200408 by The Southern Cross

The

He Is Risen

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

April 8 to April 14, 2020

A parish’s response to lockdown

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

Centenary Jubilee Year

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The editor and staff of The Southern Cross wish all readers, advertisers, Associates, pilgrims, supporters, contributors, bishops, clergy, religious, and all our friends a blessed Easter filled with the hope and joy of our Risen Lord.

R12 (incl VAT RSA)

A message to you from Pope Francis

Jesus dies; and Christ rises from the dead

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No 5182

Bloem’s new archbishop has ‘mixed feelings’ BY ERIN CARELSE

Easter eggs, including one depicting the risen Christ, are seen in the courtyard of St Gabriel’s church in Nazareth, Israel, the site where pilgrims draw water from Mary’s Well. The Easter egg is symbolic of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher)

HE newly-named archbishop of Bloemfontein says he has some “mixed feelings” about his appointment. Bishop Zolile Peter Mpambani has headed the diocese of Kokstad since 2013. After his appointed as the seventh archbishop of Bloemfontein, he will succeed Archbishop Jabulani Adatus Nxumalo, who has retired as of April 1 at the age of 76. “The appointment brought mixed feelings for me,” Archbishop-elect Mpambani told The Southern Cross. “I’ve been busy with a lot of work in Kokstad, and was still developing a few things, so being told I’ll have to be in Bloemfontein in two months leaves very little time to finish things off—and more so because of the lockdown.” On the other hand, he said: “I know that the same work that I’ve been doing here in Kokstad I could also do in the archdiocese of Bloemfontein, which tells me that I should look forward to the future.” He is the third successive bishop of Kokstad to become an archbishop, following Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, who headed the diocese from 1980-92, before transferring to Durban, and Archbishop William Slattery (from 1993, moved in 2010 to Pretoria). Appointed bishop of Kokstad on April 6, 2013, Bishop Mpambani said that one of his highlights in the diocese was getting to know all of the faithful. “In 2015 I visited every parish and every outstation, to know where they are worshipping and to know where and which parishes and outstations my priests work in. Even the outstations where there were four to five people, I went there to visit and to celebrate Mass with them, just to get to know the situation in the diocese,” he said. Before he became a bishop, the member of the congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus served in his home diocese of Aliwal North, in the Eastern Cape. “I worked under [now retired] Bishop Fritz

Archbishop-elect Zolile Mpambani of Bloemfontein. (Photo: Fr Paul Tatu CSS) Lobinger, who was very big on empowering the faithful. This is what I’ve been driving in Kokstad: that they know their faith and that they know the teachings of the Catholic Church.” Of his move to the archdiocese of Bloemfontein, Archbishop-elect Mpambani said: “I’m not fearful.” He believes his experience of leading the diocese of Kokstad for seven years has prepared him. “When I was appointed as the bishop of Kokstad, being in charge of a diocese after having been a priest, I didn’t know where I was going to begin and go forward, but it has taught me a lot and given me so much experience. This is what I’ll take with me to Bloemfontein,” he said. “I know what is expected of a bishop, and what to expect of the faithful, the priests and everybody.” Archbishop-elect Mpambani hopes to draw from the experience of his predecessor, who had headed the archdiocese since 2005, after three years as auxiliary bishop in Durban. “Having Archbishop Nxumalo there, being able to have some sort of orientation, really Continued on page 3

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iD you know that The Southern Cross is entirely independent and unsubsidised, surviving on revenue from sales and advertising — and the kind support of our readers? The Southern Cross has survived for nearly 100 years on the strength of tight financial management and the great sacrifices by its small, loyal staff. But now the survival of our only national Catholic weekly is in great danger. The closure of our churches in the national lockdown has robbed us of our main source of income: sales at the church door.

We have made the weekly edition available for FREE on our website, going online every Friday at noon. That way, all Catholics will have access to the Catholic weekly. Subscribers get their edition on Wednesdays, with premium content for the duration of the lockdown. We are asking those who take up our offer of the free newspaper to make a donation, or to subscribe. An encouraging number of people have already done so. We remain positive that by God’s grace we can survive this crisis. But that also requires YOUR help.

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The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

LOCAL

Churches issue coronavirus pastoral plan BY ERIN CARELSE

HE South African Council of Churches (SACC) has released a coronavirus pastoral plan for both the immediacy of the crisis and as a springboard for rebuilding a long-term reality of greater social cohesion and economic vibrancy at community levels. The Catholic Church is a member of the SACC. According to SACC general-secretary Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, the core focus of the pastoral plan is Local Ecumenical Action Networks (LEANs), operating at congregational and neighbourhood level. He said the lockdown makes it impossible for the Churches to worship in the manner they used to. Bishop Mpumlwana explained that it is the responsibility of our time to renew the spirituality of worshipping God where people are, in their fear and anxiety; by sharing in their pain, and ministering to them in their homes and neighbourhoods. The SACC pastoral plan has four

pillars: systems and structures for local organisation and bulk communication, crisis relief, pastoral care, and advocacy and support for rebuilding lives.

Organising and communicating Ten or more local churches will form a LEAN, each with a WhatsApp network for its members. A number of these local networks in various municipal areas will be coordinated by an SACC district coordination centre, enabling a feed into the SACC national coordination centre that liaises with the government joint operations centre. The WhatsApp platform will allow congregations to link in and access the communication. Likewise, local communities will be encouraged to create WhatsApp groups for, say, a neighbourhood block, a burial society, or a stokvel. In addition, there will be prayers and messages for people on their phones and on public radio. There will also be a programme

of various Churches’ leaders and representatives offering snippets of video spiritual reflections, which will, as much as possible, be offered in the 11 South African languages. Other tools of the communication system include a dedicated website (coronachurch.org.za). The SACC toll-free number 0800 111-114 is intended for people to report things about the lockdown such as gender-based violence and domestic abuse; abuse of power by security forces; traders and businesses inflating prices of goods; and service providers and government officials defrauding the state.

Crisis relief Crisis relief efforts will be put in place for the destitute, as identified by local Churches’ structures and in connection with the government, using a voucher system for basic needs and purchases. Churches will be available to serve as relief centres for distribution and support for those in need of food, water, sanitisers, and so on.

Through church and community networks, the most vulnerable will be identified and relief support will be activated for them.

Pastoral care In the area of pastoral care, the focus will be on the needs of the vulnerable, support for victims of domestic abuse and violence, support for frontline health workers, and peace management in cases of conflictual protests. Bishop Mpumlwana said that with infected persons multiplying as the virus spreads, church care services may include the opening of church infrastructure for testing sites. “There may be communities and families that will not be able to cope with the lockdown. People who live on what opportunities they can get from day to day, families of casual workers who are not paid when not working, day workers, street vendors, beggars, and many other categories of people whose source of living is from hand to mouth,” he added.

In addition, mechanisms have to be found for needy schoolchildren who have been sent home following closure of schools (such as their care, meals they got at school, education while at home). This will be in collaboration with the Departments of Basic Education and of Social Development.

Rebuilding lives This includes a focus on the economically vulnerable who may be left out and most marginalised, and a rebuilding focus that ensures that post-coronavirus, people can build up their lives to be better than before, through education and livelihoods development. “This builds on the previous work and amplifies any gap in support that needs to be given, especially emotional and counselling services that might be needed by health workers, security personnel and volunteers who are in the frontlines of this fight against the pandemic,” said Bishop Mpumlwana said.

Limits to funerals during lockdown BY ERIN CARELSE

AMILIES who are facing the loss of a loved one during the mandatory 21-day lockdown period can be assured that the government has stated that all deaths will be attended to as long as the bylaws are adhered to. With restrictions on travel, group gatherings, and visits to the hospital in place, families are now unable to gather and grieve as they normally would. But funeral parlours and mortuary workers will still be available to carry out their work as it is considered an essential service. Grieving families will, however, have to endure strict measures for funeral services during the Covid19 pandemic due to the risk of transmissions in group gatherings. In terms of the Disaster Management Act, the new regulations state that there may be no more than 50 people at a funeral. This includes the

presider (in Catholic churches, the priest or deacon), family members, mourners and undertakers present at funerals. Night vigils are not allowed. Churches are closed during the lockdown and may be used only to conduct funeral services. Normal requirements are still applicable to hold a funeral, as well as additional requirements in light of the lockdown, and the relevant forms must be completed in order for the funeral to take place. Keith Perritt, administration manager at Thom Kight funeral services in Johannesburg, said that as undertakers, the company is an essential service provider, and is able to carry out burials and cremations as before. “Mourners are permitted to attend funeral services, burials or cremations; the only change is that there may not be more than 50 people attending such services,” Mr Perritt said. “For example, if we

were to conduct a graveside service and we provide two employees to assist with it, and two employees to take care of the mats and machines, and there is one minister present, then the number of mourners may not exceed 45,” he explained. Carol Petersen, a funeral consultant at Tony Wyllie & Co Funeral Home in Cape Town, said that safety measures have been put in place for all staff and clients as per government instructions. “We have implemented the regulations of a minimum of 50 people. There is also no viewing of the deceased; the coffins are closed,” she explained. “When removing a deceased from their home or hospital, the staff have to wear masks, gloves, and use hand sanitiser at all times,” Ms Petersen said. “We also disinfect our stretchers and covers, our trolleys, the removal vehicle, and our hearses at all times. Of course, we have a permit to be on

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Funeral services can still be conducted during the lockdown but families have to adhere to the new regulations. (Photo: Carolyna Booth) the road,” she added. Ms Peterson also explained that some family members have chosen to wait till after the lockdown to either bury or cremate their loved ones, in which case the remains of the deceased need to be embalmed to preserve the body. “If any families are unsure or

have any questions or need any advice, we are here to help,” Ms Petersen said. n In Cape Town, contact Tony Wyllie & Co at 021 788-3728 (24 hours) or e-mail jean@wylliefunerals.co.za; in Johannesburg contact Thomas Kight at 011 837-5531 or e-mail admin@ thomkight.co.za

DHC helps house homeless BY ERIN CARELSE

COALITION of faith and secular bodies has managed to create safe interim spaces for 1 700 of Durban’s street people during national lockdown. And now the challenge is to keep boredom at bay. The men and women from Street Lit, a Denis Hurley Centre (DHC) project supported by Booksellers of Mzanzi, put up their hands to help. Street Lit helps homeless people by giving them the chance to sell secondhand books. Within hours of the callout, 15 boxes of secondhand books were packed—one per site—from the vendors’ personal supplies. Books were selected to ensure suitability, including for the few children with their mothers in shelters. But the DHC is appealing for funds for additional goods, services and support for the lockdown period and subsequent restriction measures. Its target is R1,785 million, or the equivalent of R50 per person per day for the 21 days of lockdown. The appeal is to provide things like basic and withdrawal medication, hygiene products, additional food, volunteer expenses, and ID applications. “The list is, of course, not exhaustive, but a few days after setting up the shelters and establishing the basic protocols for how they are run, this is our best estimate of the needs at this time,” said Raymond Perrier, director of the DHC. Several faith-bodies and NGOs have worked with the eThekwini municipality, under the leadership of

Street Lit book vendor Kagiso Phihlela with boxes of books for the 15 lockdown sites for the homeless. Deputy-Mayor Belinda Scott, to set up and supervise the shelters. “NGOs are being enormously generous in providing food and the City Department of Health has started a major healthcare programme for those in the shelters. These together mean that the basic necessities are in place,” said Mr Perrier. Some 2 000 street people have been screened and processed. None showed any Covid-19 symptoms. Of those, 300 have gone back to their homes or left the process. The remaining 1 400 men and 300 women have been given shelter, hygiene packs, mattresses and blankets, and receive three freshly prepared meals every day. n Financial donations can be made to the Denis Hurley Centre using Zapper, Payfast (for credit cards) or EFT. Contact Leanne at leanne@denishurleycentre.org for more information. To know more about volunteering, contact volunteer@wearedurban.com

The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

LOCAL

End of an era: Koinonia centre sold BY ERIN CARELSE

N era has come to an end with the sale of the Koinonia retreat and conference centre in Johannesburg, a place that once was a target of the apartheid security police. The fixture in the Catholic life of Gauteng, and well beyond, is now closed, but its furniture and other items have found “a good home”. The last few months were sad for the Sisters of the Dominican Congregation of Oakford, who over many years had run the wellknown retreat centre. With the sale of Koinonia, the Oakford Dominicans have sold their last property in Johannesburg. The identity of the buyer or their plans for the building cannot be disclosed while the transfer is being held up by the national lockdown. “At this stage, we do not have our own Sisters to manage the facility, but we note with gratitude the contribution made to the Oakford mission and the life of the Church by the Sisters who lived and worked at Koinonia over its years of service,” said Sr Alison Munro OP. With the sale of the property, many of the items and furniture from the centre have found a good a home. “We are happy that most of the furniture and much else has gone to the diocese of Dundee to help furnish the new Pax Christi pastoral centre, which is being built there,” Sr Munro said.

Items from the Koinonia chapel and other objects from the centre will also be found in the new Marian Shrine in Magaliesburg in the archdiocese of Johannesburg. The Oakford Dominican congregation has been involved at Koinonia, originally known as Mazenod, for about 90 years, from when they were first invited to manage a hostel for the Johannesburg Catholic Women’s League (CWL). Within a few years, the congregation purchased the property from the CWL, continuing to provide accommodation to young women living away from home and working in the growing city. Mother Angela, the superior at Mazenod long before it changed its name to Koinonia, was a household name in the days when the Oakford congregation managed several hostels for young women in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban, Sr Munro told The Southern Cross. “She was known for her organisational and managerial skills in establishing and setting up the hostels that accommodated young working women away from home. Mother Angela, and the Sisters with her, made a home away from home for the women living there,” she said. “Some of the young residents joined the congregation, and some residents continued to live with the Sisters even when they were no longer young,” Sr Munro added. She recalled that in the early 1970s the national headquarters of

The Koinonia retreat and conference centre in Johannesburg, a fixture of Catholic life in Gauteng for about 90 years, has been sold. the Christian Life Movement and of Christian Life Groups were set up at Koinonia. And so began a new focus on Jesuit-inspired retreat work with parish, school and university groups. “Young people gathered for weekend and longer retreats, some of them at Koinonia, and others at different venues across the country. The retreat directors and facilitators were drawn from among the members of different religious congregations working in Southern Africa. They, in turn, had access to schools

and parishes in the areas in which their congregations lived and worked,” Sr Munro said. “Significantly for apartheid South Africa in the 1970s and ’80s, the staff were drawn from different racial groups, as were the participants in the retreats, who were known as ‘koinonumens’.” As a result, Koinonia became “a place of interest” for the security police, “given the different people who lived at, worked at and visited the property”, Sr Munro said. Later, Koinonia began operating

as a retreat and conference centre, and over time its patrons were drawn from different Churches and non-governmental organisations, providing a venue for day-groups as well as for people wanting workshops, training sessions, congregational chapters or a quiet time of prayer. According to Sr Munro, Koinonia also has an interesting architectural history. “It appears that the original building was built in 1902. One story goes that it was owned by the embassy of Austria at one point, another that it was owned by a doctor. Certainly, in the dining room there is a medical emblem over what was once a fireplace,” she said. The chapel built in the early 1950s was itself altered in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Changes also happened in the neighbourhoods of Bezuidenhout Valley and Judith’s Paarl, the two adjoining areas into which Koinonia falls. Over the years, the demographics of the neighbourhood changed, and many Chinese and Portuguese families moved in, some of them shopkeepers, artisans and market gardeners. Once the borders of South Africa were opened after 1994, refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants from all over Africa and from elsewhere arrived. The area around Koinonia is now home to people from all around South Africa and all over Africa.

New archbishop on going to Bloemfontein

Unlike in other years where Mahobe Sacred Heart mission in Umzimkulu diocese used to be full celebrating Palm Sunday, this year it was only the residents. Mass was celebrated by Fr Alex Kazadi and his assistant Fr Siyabonga Nombika, Sisters of the Little Servants of Mary Immaculate, and two parishioners who stay at the mission. (Submitted by Sr Zithobile Zondi LSMI)

Continued from page 1 helps. And then I’ll have my own meetings, and then I can see what the expectations are and how we are going to move forward.” Archbishop-elect Mpambani said he is looking forward to making Bloemfontein his home. “I believe that cooperation is very important, I hope nobody will fold their arms and say, ‘Let’s see what the new archbishop is going to teach us.’ Instead, I hope I’m going to find people who are going to say, ‘This is what we know, the knowledge we have, this is what we are doing, can you add to this’,” he said. “I look forward to working with everybody. After 15 years [of Archbishop Nxumalo’s leadership], I think the people of Bloemfontein are strengthened and empowered enough,” Archbishop-elect Mpambani said. Born on February 20, 1957, Bishop Mpambani joined the Sacred Heart congregation 1982 and he studied at St Joseph’s Theological Institute in Cedara (then still Joseph’s Scholasticate). He was ordained a priest on April 25, 1987. After serving as pastor in different parishes in Aliwal North, he was appointed to the leadership of his congregation in its central government in Rome from 1998 to 2003. During this time he visited regions of the Priests of the Sacred Heart scattered in many countries around the world.

Bishop Mpambani speaks English, Xhosa, Sotho, Italian and Portuguese. According to Archbishop Nxumalo, this background makes him the best man for the job in the city of Bloemfontein, which he said is becoming more and more cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic and international because of immigrants from Europe, Asia and African countries. After serving at the general administration in Rome, Bishop Mpambani was appointed from 2007-11 to its formation house in Pietermaritzburg. Thereafter he was assigned as pastor of St Francis church, Aliwal.

He was appointed provincial superior of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in February 2013, but his term was cut short within two months with his appointment as bishop of Kokstad. As a member of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, he served in the Department of the Laity Formation, responsible for promotion and strengthening of Marriage Encounter movement and family life. The date of Archbishop-elect Mpambani’s installation in Bloemfontein will be governed by the terms of national lockdown and restrictions which might be in place afterwards.

The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

LOCAL

A name on every seat in the pews Parishes everywhere are trying to find solutions to the suspension of Mass in this time of lockdown. FR FRANCIS ONYANGO IMC of Kwaluseni in Eswatini shares his experience

OR many of us, church is like our second home, a place where we visit for solace when times are hard, a place where we feel free and comfortable to spend time and interact with fellow Christians, and sometimes even just to enjoy hanging around after Mass, bonding with each other as we nurture our family spirit. Sunday is our day of obligation, a day set apart for the worship of God, and we naturally wake up geared for church. But then the coronavirus came, and our church services were suspended; government placed restriction on gatherings and travels, and God’s people were left unsure of what to do. Breaking a long-held tradition isn’t always easy, and going to Sunday Mass is one such tradition. We never needed to wake up on a Sunday morning without a clue of what to do or where to go or how to spend the day. Priests were hit hard by the suspension of Masses, and so were the faithful. In our parish we started to think of possible ways of how best to minister to our people in these, for us, unprecedented circumstances.

The names of parishioner cover the pews of Ss Peter and Paul church in Kwaluseni, in the Matsapha area of Manzini diocese. Many dioceses and individual parishes are trying ways of how to stay in touch with their people during this time of separation, so that the faithful are not spiritually starved. At our parish of Ss Peter and Paul in Kwaluseni in Eswatini, we decided to define ways of staying and remaining connected to the People of God, to continue journeying together with them during this difficult time.

Collecting names For a start, we requested all our parishioners to send us their names; we asked for the names of every soul in our parish from the youngest infant to the most senior citizen of the community. Within four days, almost all the names had been submitted.

By Saturday, a total of 405 names were pinned on our church’s benches. The idea was to let our people know that they are not forgotten; that even though they will not be able to sit in their favourite pews on Sunday, their names will be there in their place, and that Mass will still be offered for them. The presence of these names pinned on the benches is a sign of the longing of our people to be part of the celebration which, due to the circumstances we find ourselves in, they can be present only in spirit. We therefore asked them to keep our Sunday time for Mass sacred without substituting it with anything else. As a result, every Sunday between 9:00 and 10:00, all our parishioners are called to join to-

gether in the celebration from their respective homes. A guideline was sent to them on how to go about the service on their own. The joy with this is that members feel that they are not just alone, but they are together with their priests and the whole community as they worship God; that even though we may not be gathered together as a family in one physical place, we do remain united in spirit in our different locations. As they pray at home, they are united with many other parishioners, and in their prayers they are also united in the celebration of the Mass which the priests offer for them at the parish where their names are pinned on to the pews.

Weekly adoration In addition to the Sunday moment of prayer, we have also increased our moments of adoration from monthly to weekly. Now every Thursday from 19:00 to 20:00, the parish community comes together again, not physically but united in a spirit to prayer. During this moment, as people pray back at home, the priests move from bench to bench, mentioning the names of the parishioners one by one and offering them to the Lord in the Eucharist. Our parishioners are encouraged to be united with their priests at this moment of adoration, to offer their prayers since at that very moment the priests will be offering them individually and in a very special way to the Lord in the Eucharist. A guideline on how to go about this session of adoration has also

Consolata Fathers Francis Onyango and Peterson Mwangi proceed into the empty church of Ss Peter and Paul for Mass. been sent to them. Other than the Sunday Mass and the Thursday adoration, we have also decided to send reflections to our community every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. These reflections are based on the readings of the day. They are meant to help the faithful in their spiritual journey. We hope this period of “Staying Away” will help us find more time to be with God in prayer and in his Word. Even though this may seem to work, for now the challenge remains of how to reach our parishioners who are not on social media, for they too need spiritual accompaniment. We live in hope and trust that this crisis will soon pass, and the people of God will get back to occupy their benches where for now only their names are pinned.

POPE FRANCIS The crucifix from Rome’s church of St Marcellus is pictured after Pope Francis’ celebration of Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter’s basilica. The crucifix was carried in Rome in 1522 during the Great Plague. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

You’re not alone, says pope in empty basilica By CAROL GLATZ

A message to you from Pope Francis By POPE FRANCIS

F you allow me, I would like to have a conversation with you for a few moments, in this time of difficulty and of suffering. I can imagine you in your families, living an unusual life to avoid contagion. I am thinking of the liveliness of children and young people, who cannot go out, attend school, live their lives. I have in my heart all the families, especially those who have a loved one who is sick or who have unfortunately experienced mourning due to the coronavirus or other causes. These days I often think about people who are alone, and for whom it is more difficult to face these moments. Above all I think of the elderly, who are very dear to me. I cannot forget those who are sick with coronavirus, people who are in hospital. I am aware of the generosity of those who put themselves at risk for the treatment of this pandemic or to guarantee the essential services to society. So many heroes, every day, at every hour! I also remember how many are in financial straits and are worried about work and the future. A thought also goes out to prison inmates, whose pain is compounded by fear of the epidemic, for themselves and their loved ones; I think of the homeless, who do not have a home to protect them. It is a difficult time for everyone. For many, very difficult. The pope knows this, and, with these words, he wants to tell everyone of his closeness and affection. Let us try, if we can, to make the best use of this time: let us be generous; let us help those in need in our neighbourhood; let us look out for the loneliest people, perhaps by telephone or social networks; let us pray to the Lord for those who are in difficulty in Italy and in the world.

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The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

Pope Francis in his video address to the faithful.

The creativity of love Even if we are isolated, thought and spirit can go far with the creativity of love. This is what we need today: the creativity of love. We will celebrate Holy Week in a truly unusual way, which manifests and sums up the message of the Gospel, that of God’s boundless love. And in the silence of our cities, the Easter Gospel will resound. The apostle Paul says: “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor 5:15). In the risen Jesus, life conquered death. This Paschal faith nourishes our hope. I would like to share it with you. It is the hope of a better time, in which we can be better, finally freed from evil and from this pandemic. It is a hope: hope does not disappoint; it is not an illusion; it is a hope. Beside each other, in love and patience, we can prepare a better time in these days. Make a gesture of tenderness towards those who suffer, towards children, and towards the elderly. Tell them that the pope is close and pray that the Lord will soon deliver us all from evil. And you, pray for me. See you soon! n This is a slightly shortened text of a video message released by Pope Francis (Click here to see the video)

ITH a small procession down the vast and empty central nave of St Peter’s basilica, Pope Francis began the first of a series of Holy Week liturgies celebrated without the presence of the faithful from the general public. Palm Sunday Mass, the liturgy that begins with a commemoration of Jesus entering Jerusalem among a jubilant crowd, was celebrated on April 5 without the usual outdoor procession and blessing of the faithful’s palm fronds. A small number of pews were set out, with 13 people—each holding a woven palm frond—sitting one per pew; just eight people sang in the choir. The basilica was decorated with a potted olive tree and greenery. Also displayed were the icon of the “Salus Populi Romani” (health of the Roman people) and what Romans call the “Miraculous Crucifix”, normally housed in the church of St Marcellus. Over the centuries, both the icon and crucifix have been associated with miraculous interventions to save the city and its people. Broadcast and livestreamed over a wide range of media, the pope preached in his homily about the betrayal and abandonment Jesus experienced before and during his Passion. He was betrayed by a disciple who “sold him” and one who denied him, betrayed by people who sang “hosanna” to him and then shouted “crucify him”, betrayed by “the religious institution that unjustly condemned him and by the political institution that washed its hands of him”, the pope said. Then, on the cross, Jesus asked God “the most excruciating question: ‘’Why did you, too, abandon me?’” “Why did all this take place?” the pope asked. “It was done for our sake, to serve us.” “God saved us by serving us” and by taking upon himself all the punishment for people’s sins “with-

Pope Francis holds palm fronds as he celebrates Palm Sunday Mass in an almost empty St Peter’s basilica at the Vatican. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) out complaining, but with the humility, patience and obedience of a servant, and purely out of love”, the pope said. “The Lord served us to the point of experiencing the most painful situations of those who love—betrayal and abandonment,” he said. The reason, the pope said, was so “when we have our back to the wall, when we find ourselves at a dead end, with no light and no way of escape, when it seems that God himself is not responding, we should remember that we are not alone”.

In crisis, have courage Turning to the current Covid-19 crisis, Pope Francis said: “Today, in the tragedy of a pandemic, in the face of the many false securities that have now crumbled, in the face of so many hopes betrayed, in the sense of abandonment that weighs upon our hearts, Jesus says to each one of us, ‘Courage, open your heart to my love. You will feel the consolation of God who sustains you’.” Inspired by the Lord’s example of love and service despite the cost,

the faithful are also called to “refuse to betray him for whom we were created and not abandon what really matters in our lives”. “We were put in this world to love him and our neighbours. Everything else passes away; only this remains,” the pope said. “The tragedy we are experiencing summons us to take seriously the things that are serious and not to be caught up in those that matter less; to rediscover that life is of no use if not used to serve others,” he said. “For life is measured by love.” So with the start of a Holy Week with people in their homes, “let us stand before the crucified one, the fullest measure of God’s love for us, and before the God who serves us to the point of giving his life, and let us ask for the grace to live in order to serve.” The pope greeted those who had followed the Mass through the media. He asked those who cannot participate in Holy Week liturgies in person to pray at home even with the help of the Internet and other means.—CNS

Pray over Mary’s ‘seven sorrows’ By CINDy WOODEN

OPE Francis has asked the faithful to keep a long tradition of Catholic piety by focusing on “the suffering and sorrows of Our Lady”. “Honour Our Lady and say, ‘This is my mother’, because she is mother. This is the title that she received from Jesus precisely there, at the cross,” the pope said. Jesus “did not make her prime minister or give her ‘functional’ titles. Only ‘mother’”, he said. Mary did not ask for any honour or special titles, the pope said. “She didn’t ask to be a quasi-redemptrix or a co-redemptrix—no. There is only one Redeemer and this title cannot be duplicated.” For decades, some Catholics have been petitioning the popes to

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recognise Mary as “co-redemptrix” to highlight the essential role she played in redemption. “Just disciple and mother—and in that way, as mother, we must think about her, seek her out, pray to her,” Pope Francis said. “She is the mother in the Church that is mother. In the maternity of Our Lady, we see the maternity of the Church, which receives everyone, good and bad, everyone.” The pope asked Catholics to spend time considering the “seven sorrows” of Mary: Simeon’s prophecy that a sword would pierce her heart; the flight into Egypt; the worry when the child Jesus could not be found because he was in the temple; meeting Jesus on the way to Calvary; seeing Jesus on the cross; witnessing Jesus, lifeless, being

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taken down from the cross; and seeing Jesus being buried in the tomb. Mary bore those sufferings “with strength, with tears —it wasn’t a fake cry, hers was truly a heart destroyed by pain”, the pope said. Pope Francis said that late in the evening, when he prays the Angelus prayer, he contemplates the seven sorrows and recalls “how the mother of the Church, with so much pain, gave birth to all of us”. “There are people who already are thinking about the ‘after’, what happens after the pandemic.” pope said. They already are strategising ways to alleviate “all the problems that will come—problems of poverty, jobs, hunger. Let us pray for all the people who are helping today, but also thinking of tomorrow to help all of us,” Pope Francis urged.—CNS

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The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

INTERNATIONAL Divine Word Father Andrew Campbell poses with a woman with Hansen’s disease at the Weija Leprosarium in Accra, Ghana. (Photo: Soup Kitchen Team/CNS)

Irish priest makes ‘life a little easier’ for Ghana’s lepers

EIJA Leprosarium was set up in 1993 by Irish-born Fr Andrew Campbell, pastor of Christ the King church in Accra, Ghana, who came by boat to Ghana as a missionary in 1971. The 74-year-old priest campaigns for Ghanaians, particularly families, to accept and integrate people affected by the disease into their communities. The stigma attached to leprosy is “a terrible thing”, Fr Campbell said. ”With multi-drug treatment, “the

notion that once a leper always a leper is not true”, he said. The ban on church services and other large gatherings in response to Covid-19 has brought a dwindling of funds for Fr Campbell’s work with leprosy patients and at a soup kitchen he runs from his parish for street children in Accra. Most of the funding for the soup kitchen, where children are also counselled and taught skills, comes from weekday Mass offerings and donations.—CNA

Nuns’ toilet rolls will outlive them

OLD-out toilet paper is no problem for a congregation of Dominican Sisters in Germany—they have had a huge supply for decades. There are two reasons why the Dominican Sisters of Bad Wöris-hofen, near Augsburg in Bavaria, have thousands of toilet rolls in storage. Firstly, the Sisters closed their retreat facility 15 years ago, “and there are still plenty of rolls left to this day”, prioress Franziska Brenner told the Katholische Nachrichten-Agentur. Secondly, in the 1970s a supplier once put a zero too many on an order. Two pallets of toilet rolls have been standing in the convent’s storage ever since. Now the Dominicans have found a way to reduce their supplies. According to Sr Brenner, charities are experiencing supply shortages due to people’s stockpiling in the coronavirus crisis. When she read

about that in the newspaper, she took a load of the toilet paper to the charity. At first the recipients were embarrassed to use it because, although the rolls were in their original packaging, they looked grey and aged, and were only two-ply, in a country where triple-ply paper is the norm. But after overcoming these reservations, everybody was happy about the Sisters’ delivery. Sr Brenner appealed to “hamsterbuyers”, the German term for stockpilers, to hold back. “It’s a shame when people just look after themselves at a time when solidarity is required,” she said. “Many others are neglected, especially the vulnerable. It doesn’t have to be like that; there’s actually enough for everyone." Sr Brenner is not worried about the Sisters’ own supplies in the convent: “The toilet rolls will outlive us all!”

Livestream display of Shroud of Turin on Holy Saturday

ITH people forced to stay home, even during Holy Week, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the archbishop of Turin has announced a special online exposition of the Shroud of Turin, which many believe is the burial cloth of Jesus. On Holy Saturday, April 11, as Christians contemplate Jesus lying in the tomb, Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia will lead a liturgy of prayer and contemplation before the shroud at 17:00 (SA time). The prayer service will be livestreamed along with live images of the 4x4-metre shroud, which has a full-length photonegative image of a man, front and back, bearing signs of wounds that correspond to the Gospel accounts of the torture Jesus endured in his Passion and death. See our website for details Announcing the special display, Archbishop Nosiglia said that he had received “thousands and thousands” of messages “asking me if, in this time of grave difficulty we are going through, it would be possible to pray this Holy Week before the shroud”

Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia of Turin stands in front of the Shroud of Turin in the cathedral of St John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, in 2017. A special online display of the shroud will be held on Holy Saturday. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) and ask God for “the grace to defeat evil as he did, trusting in the goodness and mercy of God”. The archbishop told Vatican News that the online viewing of the shroud could be “much better” than seeing it in person because the cameras will allow viewers to see it up

close and to remain at length with the image. The image of the crucified man on the shroud, he said, “will go to the heart and the sadness of many people who will follow us. It will be like staying with the Lord on the day we await his Resurrection”.—CNS

Good Friday collection moved to September BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

ITH Holy Week celebrations closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis postponed the traditional Good Friday collection for the Holy Land to September. The Vatican announced that the pope approved a proposal to hold the collection in churches worldwide on September 13. “The Christian communities in the Holy Land, while exposed to the risk of contagion and often living in very trying circumstances, benefit every year from the generous solidarity of the faithful throughout the world, to be able to continue their evangelical presence, as well as to maintain schools and welfare structures,” the Vatican said. The Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, an administratively au-

A man wears a protective mask during Mass at the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The pope moved the Good Friday collection for the Holy Land to September. (Photo: Ammar Awad, Reuters/CNS) tonomous province of the Franciscan order, uses the collection to carry out its mission of preserving most of the shrines connected with the life of Jesus as well as for providing pas-

toral care to the region’s Catholics, running schools, operating charitable institutions, and training future priests and religious. The collection, taken up at the request of the pope, is administered by the Franciscan Custody and the Congregation for Eastern Churches, which uses it for the formation of candidates for the priesthood, the support of the clergy, educational activities, cultural formation, and subsidies. The Vatican said that the date of the collection, which takes place on the eve of the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, “will be a sign of rediscovered hope and of salvation after the Passion that many people now participate in, as well as solidarity with those who continue to live the Gospel of Jesus in the land where ‘it all began’”.—CNS

Cardinal: I hope closed churches will reopen soon

HE Vatican secretary of state said that he hoped churches closed because of the coronavirus crisis would be reopened “as soon as possible”. In an interview published on the Vatican News website, Cardinal Pietro Parolin also said he was disturbed by reports of Catholics dying without the sacrament of the sick, and expressed concern about the disease’s impact on impoverished countries. The cardinal said: “The suspension of celebrating the liturgy was necessary to avoid large gatherings. Jesus is present in churches in the Eucharist; priests continue to pray and celebrate Holy Mass for the faithful who cannot participate there. It is nice to think that the doors to God’s house remain open, just as the doors of our houses remain open, even though we are strongly encouraged not to go out except for essential reasons.” Cardinal Parolin acknowledged the suffering of Catholics who are currently deprived of the sacraments because they are living under lockdown. “I would like to say that I share their

Cardinal Pietro Parolin. (Photo: Bohumil Petrik/CNA) sorrow,” he said. “But I would like to recall the possibility of making a spiritual communion, for example. “Moreover, Pope Francis, through the Apostolic Penitentiary, granted the gift of special indulgences to the faithful, not only to those affected by Covid-19, but also to healthcare providers, family members and all those who care for them in various ways, including through prayer.” The cardinal said he was troubled by

stories of Catholics dying alone without the consolation of the sacraments. “This is one of the consequences of the epidemic that, in a certain sense, upsets me,” he said. “I have read and heard dramatic and moving stories. When, unfortunately, a priest cannot be present at the bedside of a person who is dying, every baptised person can pray and bring comfort by virtue of the common priesthood received with the sacrament of baptism.” Cardinal Parolin said that he was especially worried about how coronavirus would affect developing countries “I must confess that I am even more concerned about the situation in the lessdeveloped countries. There, healthcare facilities are not able to ensure necessary and adequate care for the population in the event of a more widespread diffusion of the Covid-19 virus.” “The Holy See’s vocation is to consider the entire world. It seeks not to forget those who are farthest away, those who suffer the most, those who perhaps struggle to gain the attention of the international media,” the cardinal noted.—CNA

Monks offer free coffins amid coronavirus BY PERRY WEST

Contact Vocation Coordinator on 072 989 2286 nardvocprom1855@gmail.com Facebook: Franciscan Nardini Sisters of the Holy Family

US monastery of Trappist monks in Iowa is offering an unusual but necessary act of charity amid the global pandemic—free coffins to financially struggling families who have lost a loved one. New Melleray Abbey, near Dubuque, Iowa, has been making coffins for the public and offering prayers for the deceased since 1999. The monastery announced last week its new initiative to support families

affected by Covid-19. “The Covid-19 virus will visit many families that are financially vulnerable and unprepared. In addition to their grief, they will wonder, ‘Where will we lay’ our loved one who has been unexpectedly taken from us,” Fr Mark Scott, the order’s abbot, wrote in an announcement of the policy. “To financially stressed families directly impacted by the Covid-19 virus, the monks of New Melleray offer free-of-charge pine coffins made from trees from the

abbey forest,” he added. New Melleray Abbey supports itself by building solid wood coffins made from fully matured trees harvested at the order’s acreage. All of the donated coffins will be blessed and, as the order continues to pray for the deceased, the monks will send a card of remembrance to families on the first anniversary of the person’s death. The order also plants a tree for each coffin made, as a living memorial.—CNA

The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

INTERNATIONAL

Freed Pell: I hold no ill will BY MICHAEL SAINSBURY

ARDINAL George Pell has said that he holds no â&#x20AC;&#x153;ill willâ&#x20AC;? towards his accuser, and does not wish to add to â&#x20AC;&#x153;hurt and bitternessâ&#x20AC;? after he was released from prison after 405 days behind bars. Earlier on April 7, the seven judges of the High Court of Australia unanimously overturned the original December 2018 jury verdict that found Cardinal Pell guilty on five counts of molesting two 13year-old choirboys in 1996. The courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision concluded there was â&#x20AC;&#x153;a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted because the evidence did not establish guilt to the requisite standard of proofâ&#x20AC;?. A few hours later, the 78-year-old Cardinal Pell was driven from Barwon prison to a Carmelite monastery in Melbourne. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have consistently maintained my innocence while suffering from a serious injustice,â&#x20AC;? Cardinal Pell said in a statement, adding that he holds â&#x20AC;&#x153;no ill will towards my accuserâ&#x20AC;?. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I do not want my acquittal to add to the hurt and bitterness so many feel; there is certainly hurt and bitterness enough,â&#x20AC;? he said. The court reversed the result of Cardinal Pellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s June 2019 appeal to the Victoria Supreme Court, which had upheld the jury verdict by a majority of 2-1. The High Court said the Victoria court should have overturned the verdict based on reasonable doubt about the cardinal having an opportunity to commit the offences immediately after a Mass in the Melbourne cathedral. The most senior Catholic to be convicted of child sexual offences, Cardinal Pell originally was sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing two choirboys in 1996 and 1997. One of the men has since died. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The High Court found that the jury, acting rationally on the whole of the evidence, ought to have en-

Australian Cardinal George Pell is seen being escorted by police to the Melbourne Magistrates Court in 2017. (Photo: Mark Dadswell, Reuters/CNS) tertained a doubt as to the applicantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guilt with respect to each of the offences for which he was convicted, and ordered that the convictions be quashed and that verdicts of acquittal be entered in their place,â&#x20AC;? the brief judgment stated. The High Court agreed with Cardinal Pellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legal counsel who argued that the judges on the Victoria court did not take into account the testimony of a witness who said that the cardinal, who was archbishop of Melbourne at the time, might not have had the opportunity to commit the offences, thus raising reasonable doubt about his guilt, and therefore should have overturned the jury decision.

he decision was delivered initially by a Twitter message on the courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s official feed linking to the decision, due to the unique circumstance of the Covid-19 pandemic. Cardinal Pell said in his statement that â&#x20AC;&#x153;my trial was not a referendum on the Catholic Church, nor

a referendum on how Church authorities in Australia dealt with the crime of paedophilia in the Church. The point was whether I had committed these awful crimes, and I did notâ&#x20AC;?. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The only basis for long-term healing is truth, and the only basis for justice is truth, because justice means truth for all,â&#x20AC;? he said, adding â&#x20AC;&#x153;a special thanks for all the prayers and thousands of letters of supportâ&#x20AC;?.

any survivorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; groups, who had seen the cardinalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conviction as vindication for their longstanding campaigns to get justice from the Church for decades of child sexual abuse, were devastated by the acquittal. Archbishop Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholic Bishopsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Conference, said in a statement that the High Courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ruling will be â&#x20AC;&#x153;welcomed by many,

including those who have believed in the cardinalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s innocence throughout this lengthy processâ&#x20AC;?. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We also recognise that the High Courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision will be devastating for others,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Many have suffered greatly through the process, which has now reached its conclusion. The result today does not change the Churchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unwavering commitment to child safety and to a just and compassionate response to survivors and victims of child sexual abuse. Any person with allegations of sexual abuse by Church personnel should go to the police.â&#x20AC;? Cardinal Pellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legal problems might not be over. Prosecutors could potentially revive another set of potential charges for a second set of historical abuse allegations that were headed for trial but dropped once he was originally convicted. He is also facing a string of civil suitsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Australian news media have reported as many as ten suits either filed or in preparationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and new allegations were made in recent weeks as part of a three-part documentary series on child abuse in the Australian Church. In addition, the Australian attorney-general is now free to authorise the removal of lengthy redactions to two case studies from the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The Vatican had said Cardinal Pell faced an abuse investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, but that investigation was put on hold awaiting the conclusion of the Australian legal process.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;CNS

Googling â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;prayerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; rises with virus BY CAROL GLATZ

OOGLE searches for â&#x20AC;&#x153;prayerâ&#x20AC;? have surged worldwide in step with the surge of emerging cases of Covid-19, according to a European researcher. The rising interest in seeking information about â&#x20AC;&#x153;prayerâ&#x20AC;? on Google â&#x20AC;&#x153;skyrocketed during the month of March 2020 when Covid-19 went globalâ&#x20AC;?, wrote Jeanet Sinding Bentzen, an associate professor in the department of economics at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Using Google Trends data on Internet searches for â&#x20AC;&#x153;prayerâ&#x20AC;? for 75 countries, she said she found that â&#x20AC;&#x153;search intensity for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;prayerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; doubles for every 80 000 new registered cases of Covid-19â&#x20AC;?. Ms Bentzen, who authored a paper in 2019 looking at the impact natural disasters had on â&#x20AC;&#x153;religiosityâ&#x20AC;?, said she wanted to study whether the Covid-19 crisis was impacting â&#x20AC;&#x153;one of the deepest rooted of human behavioursâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;religionâ&#x20AC;?. Specifically, she said she wanted to know whether the pandemic â&#x20AC;&#x153;has intensified the use of religionâ&#x20AC;? globally, given that the coronavirus has affected more than 200 countries to date. The data-timeline showing â&#x20AC;&#x153;search intensity on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;prayerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is flat before a country registers its first case of Covid-19â&#x20AC;?. and then drastically rises after the first case is registered in a country, including Muslim majority nations, Ms Bentzen wrote.â&#x20AC;&#x201D; CNS

Virus does what war couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t: churches closed across Syria BY CINDY WOODEN

ARDINAL Mario Zenari, the nuncio to Syria, said he is raising special prayers these days to Ss Cosmas and Damian, 4th-century physicians who offered free care for the sick in Syria. As the Syrian civil war enters its tenth year, still sowing death and destruction, the danger is extremely high of the coronavirus pandemic spreading in a country devastated by war and where more than 6 million people are internally displaced. The cardinal said that despite the war, up to this point Christians in Syria celebrated Holy Week and Easter every year, â&#x20AC;&#x153;even under the risk of bombs and mortar attacksâ&#x20AC;?. But the coronavirus pandemic has done what the war

An internally displaced Syrian girl wearing a protective face mask in the Bab Al-Nour camp in Azaz, Syria. (Photo: Khalil Ashawi, Reuters/CNA) could not, he said. All the churches are closed for worship. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is a totally new, unimaginable, unexpected, difficult-todescribe time of preparationâ&#x20AC;? for Holy Week and Easter, he said, which makes the situation in Syria similar to many places around the world.

Among the Syrian population, he said, there is great fear. If the pandemic does spread, it would be an unimaginable catastrophe considering that more than half of the hospitals are not operative because of the damage done by the war. But, Cardinal Zenari said, there are â&#x20AC;&#x153;thousands, millions of generous people who are moved and feel compassion for the needyâ&#x20AC;?, not just in Syria, but throughout the world. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The long and bloody Syrian conflict has revealed many Veronicas, who dry many disfigured faces; Cyrenes, who help so many people carry their burdens; numerous good Samaritans, some of whomâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;even volunteersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;have lost their lives bending down on the walkwayâ&#x20AC;? to help a person in need, he said.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;CNS

Bishop: Churches as mortuaries an â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;act of tendernessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

HE bishop at the epicentre of Italyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coronavirus outbreak has said churches are serving as makeshift mortuaries as there are so many dead bodies â&#x20AC;&#x153;you do not know where to put them anymoreâ&#x20AC;?. Bishop Francesco Beschi of the diocese of Bergamo said the use of churches â&#x20AC;&#x153;is an act of tenderness towards people who die alone and whose bodies are likely to remain piled upâ&#x20AC;?. The presence of the bodies in the church â&#x20AC;&#x153;is a gift of respect and concernâ&#x20AC;?, he added. The bishop said deaths are

â&#x20AC;&#x153;multiplyingâ&#x20AC;?, and while many people are dying in hospital, there are also many who die at home. â&#x20AC;&#x153;All of this is accompanied by very deep feelings,â&#x20AC;? Bishop Beschi noted. He said one of the priests of his diocese confided in him the difficulty of losing his father to the coronavirus while his family is separated and under quarantine: â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is no funeral, he will be taken to the cemetery and will be buried, without anyone being able to participate in this moment of human and

Christian piety which is now so important because it is missing.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The sorrow is immense.â&#x20AC;? Among the many victims of Covid-19 in Bergamo are priests, the bishop said, stating that at least 25 priests in his diocese have died from the virus. Offering a word of hope, Bishop Beschi said â&#x20AC;&#x153;these days extend shadows of death over our common life and our families and, at the same time, we cannot help but recognise the signs of spring in the resurrectionâ&#x20AC;?.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;CNA

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The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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. Name and address of the writer must be supplied. No anonymous letter will be considered.

Free up our priests for spiritual welfare work T HE Church has many external problems to deal with, such as social and environmental injustice, wrong government policies, and bad mining practices, but it also has troubles from the inside. There is a need for reform and we must reawaken our clergy and our country to the value of the Divine Presence. It is that which makes us Catholic. It is the priest’s role to focus on leading his flock to eternal salvation, and most parishes have members who can competently run other matters. My own parish of Bryanston in Johannesburg is a good example. Our excellent PPC does not need the priest to attend its committees. The priest is not needed to organise tea parties. We need the priest to spend his time encourag-

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Guest editorial by Sheila Pires

Our Easter in a time of adversity and hope

‘I

HAVE seen the Lord,” announced Mary Magdalene to the disciples. The last weeks of Lent have put many of us to the test. We found ourselves having to walk the talk, from reciting prayers to actually having conversations with God and with Mary. Parents learned how to be catechists to their children, and we learned how to pray together. Now, it wasn’t a question of making time but of making use of the time we have—and to make it count. With so many households headed by single parents— mainly mothers—it is women, like Mary Magdalene, who are announcing to their loved ones this Easter that “Jesus is alive”. Once again women have followed in the footsteps of their foremothers in the early Church as they prayed to God the Father. During this Covid-19 pandemic we have learned to pray in solidarity with one another. We have learned to be compassionate, especially with those who are less fortunate than we are: the vulnerable elderly, the

pregnant woman at the shop, the disabled and the migrant who earns on a daily basis if he or she finds a casual job for that day. We have learned to care for one another. The lockdown is teaching us to come back to the Lord. It is teaching us to learn to live within our means. And it is teaching us to spend good-quality time with family—a family that prays together can never be broken. And through the daily Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae residence in the Vatican, Pope Francis encouraged us to trust in the Lord wholeheartedly. And so this Easter, and when we emerge, eyes blinking, from the lockdown, let us continue in that path. Let our good deeds not be in vain. God has given humanity a chance to start afresh, to make things right. Jesus’ Resurrection gives us hope, hope to continue to fully trust in the Lord. n Sheila Pires is the presenter of the “Catholic View” programme on Radio Veritas.

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Let us all back Centocow mission

READ an article some time ago (January 1) which highlighted an historic Trappist missionary church which needs urgent financial help. Interested, my wife and I visited this Centocow mission church to meet Fr Ignatius Staniewicz and learn more about his rural congregation and their finances. We were amazed by the size and beauty of this magnificent church! This rural parish in the heart of KwaZulu-Natal has 9 000 members and the church is filled to capacity every single Sunday in normal times. We saw photos of recent First Holy Communicants, numbering close to 200! As reported in The Southern Cross, these rural people over several years managed to amass R200 000, and this came mainly from social grants and farming. Damage over time, termite damage, and leaks to the minor roofs, the tower, sacristy, side chapels and entrance have been repaired using the above funds but the main church roof needs, R345 000 and even more is needed to complete the renovations. When I think back to the wellheeled parishes where we come from in Johannesburg and which can be matched by other major centres in South Africa, donations small or large could answer this appeal in a few months. Should you ever be in the area after lockdown and the coronavirus pandemic recede, the mission of Centocow is off the R617, 10km from Bulwer on the road to Underberg. You would be warmly welcomed by Fr Ignatius and

ing and protecting the spiritual welfare of his flock. An idea: before and following confirmation, the priest could regularly and personally contact young people. Let them know they are loved and needed. We cannot afford to lose them, and regularly contacting them will help keep them. I agree this is time-consuming, but it is a priority. There is hope. Earlier this year, I attended Masses celebrated by different priests. Frs Russell Pollitt SJ, Mathew Charlesworth SJ and Theo Macupe showed they believe in the Real Presence. The respect they showed for the dignity of the altar was a joy. The homilies they delivered were passionate, full-blooded explanations of sacred scripture and its role in modern society. They did this as only those 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. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate. Letters can be sent to PO Box 2372, Cape Town 8000 or editor@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465-3850

enchanted by the beauty of the rolling green hills from the church, which stands majestically above the Umzimkulu River. Built by Trappist missionaries in 1888, this church deserves to be preserved. The stained-glass window behind the altar is a masterpiece of precision and beauty. The faithful people of this community deserve to have their church restored to its former glory. For further information and to get the banking details, you can contact Fr Ignatius Staniewicz at dziecioly@gmail.com Bryan Rowland, Johannesburg

God doesn’t come to us uninvited

ANY people are asking why our God has allowed the coronavirus pandemic to occur, or why he does not put a stop to it. I suggest they consider that the gift of free will bestowed upon our world may have brought us to this place. Why should our God now gratuitously interfere, which would abrogate his original design? There have been many worldwide epidemics before, cataclysmic natural events which have altered the path of our evolution. In short, perhaps God created the cosmos and then left it to develop in its own way, people, rocks and all? Perhaps the coronavirus is part of

touched with a living faith in God can. For me, these are the men we need as bishops. These wonderful priests, inspired by the Holy Spirit, do great things for people’s faith. Their example points to the good news. The ratio is good. I estimate we have three excellent priests against one who is struggling, 3-1! As a lifelong football fan, I will settle for my team winning by that margin. We must pray for our good priests; more so for our weak ones. And I say a short prayer every morning for the sad ones. By channelling my former negativity into that positive action, I feel better. Yes. Our hope is in the Eucharist. I for one will continue to support it. Deacon Dr Alex Niven, Johannesburg

this evolutionary process? But there could be a solution; there is a path which God himself has indicated: “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face... then I will hear from Heaven…and heal their land” (2 Chron 6). He has also said: “I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20). God does not come uninvited; he is ever-ready to hear and answer prayer but the initiative must come from us, we must invite him in. The country has held a day of prayer, which is good, but we as individuals, in the privacy of our own rooms, should also urgently direct our pleas to our Father, that he might heal our land, our world. And the prayers should not be a few casual Our Fathers or Hail Marys. They should be sincere, pleading with the Lord to come to our aid, as has been said, “using words if necessary”. He will know what we want, all that is required of us is to connect with him in earnest, to plead with him. He will surely answer! Cecil Cullen, Alberton

Grand Old Man

HE Catholic Link of March 1 refers to God as “Grand Old Man”. I have heard that the English have long held that view, placing him comfortably seated in, I suppose, an English country garden! While mulling over that thought, I wondered if his angels had transported the Garden of Eden to the Empyrean heights as there has been no trace of it, despite man’s best endeavours. Adrian Kettle, Cape Town

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Easter Supplement

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Let Christ lead you to heaven Easter is a reminder for us that we can’t get ourselves to heaven without Christ, as JD FLYNN explains.

HAVE been married for 14 Easters now. I’ve been a dad for eight of those. And every year, Easter sneaks up on our family. It shouldn’t. Lent is a long and penitential season, and the fair warning the Church gives us that Easter is coming. But a few weeks into Lent, it becomes normal—the sacrifices and penances become part of our routine, and I begin to forget that Easter is coming. And then, it’s the Triduum. Then it’s Good Friday, and we’re kneeling in the Church, and processing forward to kiss the cross. Then it’s Holy Saturday, and some years we’ve been putting the kids in pyjamas to let them sleep in the pews during Easter Vigil. Then it’s Easter, and we’re celebrating with our family, and cooking a roast, and drinking champagne. And every year, I find myself wondering if I’ve led my family well through Lent.

Every year, I see the ways in which I might have invited my wife more often to prayer. Every year, I ask if I’ve taught the kids enough about Jesus and his sacrifice, if I’ve opened the Scripture often enough in our home. Every year, I conclude I haven’t done enough. I haven’t really lived the Lent I should have, I decide. I haven’t really lived for Christ. But all of that is folly.

Place Christ above all We’re called, of course, to order our lives and homes and families to Jesus Christ. We’re called to be his disciples. We’re called to place him above all things. But Easter reminds us that we’re also called to let him—and him alone—accomplish the transformation of our lives. Not one of us can conquer death. Not one of us can atone for sin. Not one of us can transform a heart, ordering it to the unreserved love of God and neighbour. Only Christ can do that. We can put ourselves in his presence. We can offer ourselves to him. We can try to follow the examples of the saints. We can try to put the sacraments at the centre of our lives. But after that, we need to trust him. Easter tells us that we become

The Resurrection is depicted in a 15th-century painting by Italian painter Andrea Mantegna. Easter this year falls on April 12. (Bridgeman Images) saints through the work that he, and his grace, do in us, and through us, and for us. We are participants, but he is the source of life. “We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,” St Paul tells the Romans, “so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we

too might live in newness of life.” Our newness of life comes through him. And it takes time to be fully manifested. And we have to trust.

You can’t do it alone Pope Francis has rightly pointed out a kind of Pelagianism among many practising Catholics today.

By that he means the sense that we can do it ourselves: that if we manage to carry the burden of moral perfection, and apostolic life, and evangelical zeal, that we might get ourselves to heaven. But we won’t, and we can’t. That’s not sufficient. The doors to heaven are open to us because he loved us enough to be scourged at a pillar, to hang on a cross, to be buried, and to conquer sin and death. And in baptism, he makes us a part of his life, death, and Resurrection. The evil one wants to make us think we can do it alone. And when we fail, he leads us to despair. But an empty tomb will always be beyond our own powers and abilities. This Easter, I’ll give thanks to the Lord for the ways I’ve grown closer to him this Lent. I’ll ask him to help me follow him more closely. I’ll repent of my sins, and confess them. I’ll continue to walk with him on the lifelong journey to holiness. This Easter, I’ll try to remember that alone, I can’t be good enough, strong enough, or powerful enough to be free from my own sins, or from my impending death. And I’ll celebrate that, because of what he did for me, I don’t have to be.—CNA

Easter Supplement to The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

EASTER

In times of despair, is Easter still credible? In an age of increasing despair, Fr RAYMoND MWANGALA oMI explains why and how Easter is still relevant, and why Christ’s Resurrection must be at the centre of Christian life.

ASTER is the season of hope. The resurrection of Jesus Christ brought new hope to a world disfigured by the effects of sin. But hope is dwindling. Reasons for despair abound. Hope seems to be becoming a scarce commodity. The hope and confidence that once characterised many cultures have all but disappeared. Yet, Christians continue to believe that Christ is risen and that he brings humanity the fullness of life. Is this mere wishful thinking, misguided optimism or real Christian hope? What is the reason for the hope that should characterise Christians? There are certainly many reasons why the 21st century should be called “the century of despair”. The world, both globally and locally, has witnessed many events that have all but dashed the hopefulness and optimism of previous ages. In South Africa, for example, the promises and aspirations generated during the struggle against apartheid have been overtaken by corruption, poverty and a general sense of lawlessness. The service delivery protests are but one sign of this. One need not think hard to come up with woes afflicting our society and which are the causes of the lack of hope among many. On the global and international scene, the financial and economic crisis of 2008 signalled the failure of free-market capitalism.

Nothing is certain anymore In the postmodern world nothing seems certain any more. To hope for a better future seems unrealistic, maybe even irresponsible. Is hope still possible and realistic in such a context? Is the Easter joy and hope credible? The South African theologian Fr Albert Nolan OP thinks so. And he is not the only one. His book Hope In an Age of Despair clearly and strongly argues that Christian hope—not to be confused with optimism—is not only possible, but is what is required and called for from Christians, especially in times such as ours. However, it is not enough to have hope; Christians and theologians must provide reasons for the hope that is in them (1 Pt 3:15).

The Resurrection of Christ is pictured in a mosaic at St John Vianney seminary in Pretoria. (Photo: Fr Chris Townsend) Fr Nolan’s book brings together the author’s long-held conviction that hope is possible and necessary in the midst of darkness and despair. For Fr Nolan, the foundation of hope is God. Hope is not based on visible signs, but rather on the firm trust and conviction that God is part of human history and is bringing about a new reality, commonly called the Kingdom of God. This is happening here and now, even in the midst of discouraging signs. Christian hope is hope against hope. And so, it makes sense for Christians to hope; yes, even to hope for a better and transformed future. For Christians, the mystery of suffering, death and resurrection lies at the heart of the faith. It is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Paschal Mystery, which is the central mystery and foundation of Christianity.

Resurrection misunderstood However, even if this is said to be so, the resurrection of Jesus is one of the most misunderstood and even ignored mysteries within Christian theology and spirituality. In fact, in most theology books the resurrection generally appears

as an embarrassment. Some, however, argue that the fact of the resurrection is simply taken for granted. But as Fr Anthony Kelly CSsR has convincingly shown in The Resurrection Effect: Transforming Christian Life and Thought (2008), doing so only opens the mystery to misunderstanding and renders theology and Christian life meaningless or ideological. The “resurrection of the crucified Jesus [is] the focal event affecting all Christian life and thought”. But then, how is this singular event to be understood and made the starting point and the summit to which all theology and Christian praxis should be directed? This is what Fr Kelly set out to explain in his book. He explores the resurrection event from a phenomenological perspective and proposes how it should be the determining event of faith and theology. The key, according to him, is to focus first on the event as a given, to let it speak for itself, before it can become part of systematic reflection. Using the phenomenological approach, he concludes that the resurrection of Jesus is a “saturated phenomenon” or “mystery”.

By this he means that it is an event that contains meaning far more than the human mind can imagine or comprehend. In fact, the phenomenon of the resurrection is a datum, a given which re-orients human experience and knowing. And so, for Christians, our lives cannot but be directed by the resurrection. It must be at the centre of all we are and do. The empty tomb is an indicator of the radical reality of the resurrection. It stands as a historical witness to the fact of the resurrection and also grounds the mystery to a particular event. Jesus, the one who was killed, no longer lies dead in the tomb. Fr Kelly points out that the empty tomb serves as a historical marker for the transcendent mystery, a historical mystery whose meaning extends far beyond the historical.

The life of believers This is not to say that the tomb is proof, as understood today, of the resurrection. The only real proof to the resurrection is the life of believers—but without the fact of the empty tomb it would be easy to reduce the resurrection to only a spir-

itual or psychological event. For Christians, contact with the crucified and risen Christ, becoming a disciple, involves a process of dying and rising, of passing over with Christ, a movement of decentring the self in order to re-centre the self in Christ. In other words, the meaning of the resurrection can only be found by one who enters into the same experience that Christ underwent. This process takes place at different levels of Christian existence: ethical, sacramental and eschatological. Each individual and each generation has to seek out its own particular points of contact with the risen Christ if the resurrection is to remain relevant and meaningful. For example, for the poor experiencing the crushing prospects of the future this point of contact with the risen Christ might be in solidarity in working for justice. Work for justice, therefore, becomes a sign of hope. Hope for a better future, not just here on earth, but certainly beginning here on earth is what must sustain belief in the risen Christ for such people, for the life of hope finds its primary symbolism and structure in the paschal mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection. The resurrection is the source of Christian hope because believers no longer live in a world closed to the full extent of God’s grace and mercy. They live under open heavens of divine communication. The resurrection is not a dim and distant future reality which will happen on “the last day”; it is a reality already in the present.

The fulfilment Its fulfilment, however, only happens at the parousia, at the second coming of Christ. But before the second coming of Christ, Christians must continue in hope, journeying on in this valley of tears, knowing that even though the gift of eternal life has conquered death, death, however, is not abolished. Finally, rhetoric of resurrection must not be allowed to cover over the fact of the historical existence of so much pain, suffering and death in the world. These negative realities challenge Christians to keep the Cross and Resurrection together in creative tension. The pain of the world demands a praxis of liberation. Until Christ comes again, therefore, we must continue to live in hope. And, unless the resurrection happened, hope would at best be a repressive optimism. The resurrection is indeed the reason why Christians continue to hope—even in the midst of adversity.

An Easter Sermon from 1 400 years ago Showing just how timeless Easter is, and how great the mercy of the Lord, be inspired by this homily from the Church Father St JoHN CHRYSoSTOM (“John Goldenmouth”) who lived from 347-407.

S there anyone who is a devout lover of God? Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival! Is there anyone who is a grateful servant? Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord! Are there any weary with fasting? Let them now receive their wages! If any have toiled from the first hour, let them receive their due reward. If any have come after the third hour, let him with gratitude

join in the feast! And he that arrived after the sixth hour, let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss. And if any delayed until the ninth hour, let him not hesitate; but let him come too. And he who arrived only at the 11th hour, let him not be afraid by reason of his delay. For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him that comes at the 11th hour, as well as to him that toiled from the first. To this one he gives, and upon another he bestows. He accepts the works as he greets the endeavour. The deed he honours and the intention he commends. Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord! First and last alike, receive your reward; rich and poor, rejoice together! Sober and slothful, celebrate the day! You that have kept the fast, and

you that have not, rejoice today for the Table is richly laden! Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one. Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith. Enjoy all the riches of his goodness! Let no one grieve at his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again; for forgiveness has risen from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the death of our Saviour has set us free. He has destroyed it by enduring it. He destroyed Hades when he descended into it. He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of his flesh. Isaiah foretold this when he said: “You, O hell, have been troubled by encountering him below." Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with. It was in an uproar because it is mocked. It was in an uproar, for it is de-

stroyed. It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated. It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive. Hell took a body, and discovered God. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see. O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy victory? Christ is Risen, and you, O death, are annihilated! Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down! Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice! Christ is Risen, and life is liberated! Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead; for Christ, having risen from the dead, has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen!

A Byzantine mosaic of St John Chrysostom from the Hagia Sophia basilica in Constantinople (now Istanbul), the city of which he was the archbishop from 397. The name Chrysostom means “golden-mouthed”, for his eloquence.

EASTER

Easter Supplement to The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

III

How God helped me prove the Easter Bunny really exists The Easter egg hunt is a cherished tradition in many families. But CHRIS MoERDYK’s eldest son once threatened to sabotage the fun by revealing that the Easter Bunny doesn’t exist.

and disappeared into the neighbouring garden. There was the mother of pregnant pauses. My children looked at me and asked why I was pointing heavenwards instead of towards the point where the rabbit had disappeared. I am not pointing at the sky, I said, God is holding my hand. Not giving them a chance to ask what that meant, I turned to my son and with as much gusto as I could muster, said: “Don’t ever tell me again that you don’t believe in the Easter Bunny.”

HENEVER I think of Easter, I can’t help but recall all those times I have painted myself into a corner and the Good Lord has held out a helping hand to extricate me with my dignity intact. The ultimate example of ask and ye shall receive was Easter Sunday about 40 years ago when my eldest son was ten years old and a knowall of note. After returning from morning Mass, I would send the kids into the kitchen while I supposedly would go on a recce to see if I could spot the Easter Bunny. Meantime, all I would be doing was to maintain that devious tradition of planting Easter eggs in every nook and cranny I could find in the garden. Upon completion of that task, I would rush into the kitchen, yelling: “Quickly, come and see! The Easter Bunny!” Then I would look terribly disappointed as the children flew out of the door and say: “Oh shame, what a pity, you just missed him.” That Easter over 40 years ago, as I was about to set off on my recce, my eldest sidled up to me and told me that I was not fooling him one bit. There was, he declared, no such thing as an Easter Bunny, and if I did not stop treating him like a child he would expose my scam by telling his younger brother and sister that not only was the Easter

Father Christmas, too

Chris Moerdyk knew he was in trouble when he rashly promised his eldest son proof that the Easter Bunny actually exists. But, as so often, God came to the rescue... Bunny a figment of my romantic imagination, but that Father Christmas didn’t exist either. Before I knew what I was doing I was bending down and looked him in his prepubescent eye. Through clenched teeth I told him that he would be finding himself devoid of Easter eggs, pocket money and any form of paternal recognition for ten years on the trot if he said one single word to his brother and sister.

Painted into a corner Instead of just leaving it at that, I went and painted myself into a corner again.

Just you watch, you doubting Thomas, I said, I will prove beyond any doubt that the Easter Bunny not only exists but has the capacity to deliver billions of Easter eggs to billions of children all at the same time. Somewhat shaken and wideeyed at my unbecoming Easter behaviour, the boy slouched condescendingly into the kitchen. As I planted the Easter eggs, I asked God what he thought had possessed me to make such a rash promise, and, without waiting for an answer, I asked if he would be kind enough to somehow bail me out of the predicament into which

I had so blindly flown. I rushed into the kitchen yelling hysterically about the Easter Bunny, shooed the kids out into the garden with my eldest, still in full slouch mode, bringing up the rear.

Wide-eyed and speechless As he set foot in the garden, and a split second before I came up with the usual “Oh-shame-you’vejust-missed-him line”, my daughter, wide-eyed and speechless for the first time in her little life, pointed at the hedge as the biggest white rabbit I have ever seen hopped through a hole, went bounce, bounce, bounce across our garden,

He is a man in his fifties now, but not a Christmas or Easter goes by that he doesn’t phone to reaffirm, with all the sincerity he can muster, his belief that the Easter Bunny is alive and well, and that Father Christmas can come down a chimney even if a house hasn’t got one. I’m sure God forgave me for lying through my teeth when the children asked me if I knew anything about where that rabbit had come from. I didn’t say a word even when I found out the next day that my neighbour had bought it at the pet shop to give to his nephew for Easter. While he had been trying to get it out of its cage and into a gift basket, it head escaped, heading for the hedge between our gardens. At precisely and exactly the right moment. But, I believe it was divine intervention and indeed, a miracle, all the same. Not so much in what happened, but in the timing, which was far too perfect to be mere coincidence. n This story and more appears in Chris Moerdyk’s 2015 anthology Moerdyk Files. The book is still available from books@scross.co.za—or get it for free if you order the Church Chuckles book.

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Easter Supplement to The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

EASTER

An encounter with God’s mercy On a Holy Land pilgrimage ten years ago, BISHoP JoSé LuIS PoNCE DE LEóN had a special encounter with God’s mercy.

N 2010 I went to the Holy Land with other bishops. We stayed in Galilee where Jesus lived and preached. The last night, just before leaving the place where we were staying to go to the airport and fly back, a man approached me to talk. He was living at the place. He said: “You know, Bishop, I am blessed being here. We do not get a salary. We are here to welcome people like you who come to the Holy. Land.” He continued: “My wife is here, too. She is not well. She has cancer. She’s had many surgeries and she is suffering a lot. I am grateful to God for having her still with me and for being able to spend this time together here.” He then put a hand in his pocket and showed me a small cross. He said: “This cross was made out of a tree that is here outside. It is an old tree. It is believed to be 2 000 years old. If so, it was here when Jesus preached. “Whenever I am struggling, I just put my hand in my pocket and grab the cross to be reminded of his love for us.” To my surprise, he then gave me the cross: “Take it, and whenever you feel you are struggling in your service as a bishop, put your hand in your pocket and remember Jesus.” Carrying a cross in our pockets can be a beautiful prayer. There are times when we pray with words and times when it is just the silence of our hearts—like St John Vianney, who used to say about his prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament: “I just look at him and he looks at me.”

We do it today in front of the cross and Jesus crucified. There will probably be no words as we witness such a suffering and death.

like the silent prayer of carrying a cross in the pocket because it reminds me of the words we heard on Ash Wednesday: “When you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them; I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. “But when you pray, go to your private room and, when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you” (Mt 6:6). I prefer the cross in the pocket to the one we carry from our necks. Some carry crosses in silver or gold. I see on TV people with big crosses on their chests. I wonder if that is out of faith or fashion. I fear that big crosses on necks make us forget that the crucifixion was the most cruel and disgusting degradation of a human being. It was the most painful, and because no organs were affected, it could take days until the person would die. To my friend in the Holy Land, the cross was strength in his struggles. To others, it might be a very much necessary reminder of Jesus’ merciful love.

n early 2016, a book of interviews with Pope Francis was published. Its name was The Name of God is Mercy. That is a lovely title. The name of God is mercy... We need to remember it by heart because even though we read about God’s mercy, even though we preach about mercy, we still struggle to welcome God’s mercy in our lives. Even though we had a Jubilee of Mercy in 2016, we still believe and preach that in one way or another God punishes us for our sins. No matter how many Holy

Thursdays and how many times at Mass we hear Jesus say: “This is my body given up for you...this is my blood poured out for you”, and no matter how many Good Fridays we remember his Passion and death on the cross, we still believe that somehow, somewhere, God punishes us for our sins. It seems to be in our blood. It seems we have decided how God should be and behave. It is not what Jesus revealed to us, but what we have decided to believe. We are stubborn. We do not want to welcome the good news of God’s merciful love. We might feel we do not deserve it. Of course, we don’t. It is a gracious gift from God. We grow up trying to make sure we deserve what we are given. Mercy is totally gracious.

ometimes, instead, we play it clever. We proclaim God’s mercy but we put limits to it, thinking: “God is merciful but not always, not all the time. He cannot always forgive.” We need to make sure God does not go too far! God wants to fill our lives with his merciful love but we seem not to want that. Maybe because we are afraid. We are aware that doing so might challenge us to do the same. In fact, Jesus said: “Be merciful like the Father.” We might not believe in being merciful with others. The problem is that when we do not choose mercy, we choose violence. Then his death on the cross is powerless in our lives. The choice is ours. We all know the painting of Jesus knocking at a door which can be opened only from inside. In his letter to the Romans, Paul wonders: “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?” Probably yes—our own choice not to open the door to it. n Bishop José Luis Ponce de León, a member of the Consolata Missionaries, heads Eswatini’s only diocese, Manzini.

A crucifix made from olive wood in a Bethlehem store. The gift of a small wooden cross by a Christian in the Holy Land made a big difference to Bishop José Luis Ponce de León. (Photo; Günther Simmermacher)

Easter in a Siberian gulag BY FR RALPH DE HAHN

HIS is a story from the heart of Poland. It is a true story from the frozen wastes of Siberia; a story of a living faith and heroic charity. There is a great Polish tradition on Easter Sunday morning of sharing a blessed egg, a symbol of the new life in the Risen Christ. Together with the blessed bread, this was normally taken to the parish priest for the Easter blessing. However, this Easter was very different for these surviving Polish prisoners in the Soviet gulag; but for them, it was still Easter. The Soviets, allied with the Nazis for the first two years of World War II, had invaded Eastern Poland and deported almost two million people, men, women and children, to the gulags in the cold Siberian wilderness. A million died in these deportations. In a vast area where religious objects and praying were strictly forbidden, a father and his three sons, despite the communist persecution, took pride and consolation in living their Christian faith. It was Easter Saturday night. At home it would have been the vigil, with the church in darkness, and the blazing fire lighting up the hearts and hopes of the people: “This is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death, and rose triumphant from the grave” rang out the hymn of joyful hope. “All time belongs to him...and all ages.” But this was not home. It was a prison wilderness! Here in the dark,

A shack in a gulag, the setting of the Easter story by Fr Ralph de Hahn. (Photo: Marcin Szala/Common Licence) frozen forests of the Urals, there was no church, no wonderfully uplifting liturgy, but only memories and little hope of survival. Still, for them it was Easter. When the father, Jakub, and his three sons—Alexsy, Bazyli and Dominik—came together around the tin can stove, Jakub, holding a thin resinous pine branch which acted as a candle, read passages from his precious little prayer missal “on this

most holy night…” And Easter became alive in this region of extreme cold, starvation and misery. “And may this light mingle with the lights of heaven and continue bravely burning to dispel the darkness of this night!”

fter the short session of prayer and hymns, Jakub produced one medium-sized hen’s egg. “Dad, where did you find this

treasure?” whispered Alexsy. They all stared at this little brown egg in awe and wonder. Jakub spoke in a low tone: “I managed to exchange a little bit of our bread rations for this egg, for is it not our Easter?” It was the first egg they had seen since they had been taken from Poland. Bazyli was still curious. “But Dad, from whom and where…in this terrible camp?” The father explained he had made friends with a Russian forest worker in work camp #49. He felt that the egg was more important than bread this Easter time. The egg was boiled with the utmost care and the water in which it was boiled was saved. “We shall preserve the shell and later crush it and mingle it with this water. And why? Because it will provide calcium which is good for our bones.” said Jakub. “That is what mother would have done!” he added. Then spoke Dominik: “Indeed, how blessed we are; one egg for four people!” He shook his head and smiled. “No, my young Dominik,” replied dad, returning his smile “we must invite our neighbours too, those on our right and the others on our left.” The boys gasped in bewilderment. “But Dad, that would add up to 16 of us!” But their father was not disturbed. He invited the families to his right and his left who dwelt in huts alongside them in order to cel-

ebrate a Polish Easter together. They were delighted, but they didn’t know that there was only one egg and the little bread they brought along with them.

ow Jakub played the part of mother and father. He peeled the boiled egg so carefully, not allowing the tiniest part of the white to remain on the shell. The gathering watched with a hungry gaze, not knowing what to expect. Didn’t Jesus multiply the bread and fish for five thousand people? The father cut the egg with a penknife. First in half, then in quarters; then he carefully cut each quarter in half, then in half again till there were 16 pieces of egg equally divided. There was a solemn silence. Jakub led the Our Father, said a prayer of thanksgiving, asked God’s blessing and the courage to live and persevere in the light of the Resurrection. That for them all was a memorable Easter. It had a meaning never experienced before. When the war took a favourable turn and Russia turned on Nazi Germany, Poland still remained the theatre of death and destruction. Of the 16 who joyfully united to celebrate that Siberian Easter, only five survived to tell this amazing story of an undying faith and heroic love. For where there is such love, there is no fear. n Fr Ralph de Hahn is a priest of the archdiocese of Cape Town, a spiritual writer, poet and author.

The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

PERSPECTIVES

Our Easter in a desert T HIS is a very unusual Easter. We are in a national lockdown. Our freedom of movement has been completely curtailed for the greater good. We miss walking on the beach or in the park, or taking the dogs for a run around the neighbourhood. We miss our friends and family. We are spiritually hungry to go to Mass. We are watching the Triduum celebrations on our laptops or cellphones by linking up to online Masses. We are missing the feeling of a community of believers as we share in the celebration of the Last Supper. We are unable to physically stand below the Cross on Good Friday and we will not hear the ringing of the church bells as the Gloria is sung again at the Easter vigil. We will not be able to welcome the new members who will be received into our parishes as a community. This absence hurts us deeply. We entered the desert experience of Lent, and despite the fact that this is Easter weekend, we feel as if we will not emerge into the light of Resurrection Joy. One small consolation is that it is a suffering that we endure together with Catholics and people of faith all over the world. We are united in our isolation. But we are also united in our desire for the Risen Christ. Despite all this, we are still very fortunate. If you are reading my column this month, you’re reading it online. You have access to the Internet and can probably attend a virtual Mass. We remember, however, that this Easter Triduum so many Catholics will not have access to any form of Mass because they are not online. At most they will do their readings at home with their families and recite the prayers of the Mass. Nothing can substitute receiving the Blessed Sacrament in person, but in exceptional times, we have been able to make a plan to remain spiritually connected with the sacramental Jesus. However, we do know that in a few months, the coronavirus will be overcome and life will return to normal. Our parish will still be there, waiting for us to return with open doors. But imagine for one moment that there

was no parish. Or no priest. Or no sacraments. Not just for a few weeks or months but permanently. Imagine for a moment, you lived in a place where you only had a priest to celebrate Mass a few times a year. Or imagine that you lived in a country where the Church is persecuted and being found attending Mass could cost you your life. Or if you were forced to belong to a version of the Church that was sanctioned by government authorities. When we have the privilege and the blessing of Mass each week, we forget the reality of the faithful in the Amazon region, the suffering Christians in the rebel-held regions of Syria and other parts of the Middle East, the hardship of Catholics in China.

lthough it may not seem like it, we have been given a gift this Lent and Easter. We have been allowed to experience what it is like for a large portion of the world’s 1,2 billion Catholics. This is a Holy Spirit moment. We have felt the acute loss of being separated from the sacraments. We have felt the isolating loss of the community of our faith-sharing groups. In the beginning, we were angry about it. Then we were sad. Now, we’re still grieving. Knowing how much our spiritual communities mean to us, how can we as

The national lockdown separates us from sacraments and communion at Easter, but there is a grace in that, suggests SarahLeah Pimentel. (Photo: Marius Spiske)

SA’s time for resurrection F OR many Catholics, this year’s Holy Week is an experience of “virtual church”—those truly observing the lockdown, or people like my parents in their 80s, who are too scared to go outside, have stayed connected to their religious communities through the power of social media. For people like me in Durban, working on the frontline of protecting the homeless from the virus, our Church is anything but virtual. It is one of the most real experiences of Church I have ever had. The story of Christ’s Passion in Holy Week and the history of the Israelites fleeing the Pharaoh share a visceral human reality: that when we find ourselves anxious, fearful and alone, we turn to God in our time of need. That is true of the homeless who two weeks ago were told they would be arrested if found on the streets yet have no alternative place to go. Like the Jews in Egypt, they were exiles in the only land that they knew; like Jesus’ followers they found themselves on the wrong side of the law. The process, overseen by the Catholic deputy mayor of eThekwini, Belinda Scott—the Moses figure in this extraordinary story—and assisted by NGOs and municipal officials, began at the Durban Exhibition Centre. Here, over three days, we processed and screened 2 000 homeless people and also managed to feed them, even though there were twice as many as we had expected— another parallel to the New Testament. Moreover, the choice of location was significant. The DEC stands next to the Durban ICC named after that great Methodist struggle hero Rev Albert Luthuli and on the ruins of the old prison, a place of unjust punishment like the praetorium of the Gospel. But more specifically, this Friday thousands of Christians of all denominations should have gathered at the DEC, as they do every year, to march in silent witness of the events of Good Friday (following a tradition started by our own Archbishop

Volunteers from the Church of Eternal Truth feed the body and minds of homeless people in lockdown at Durban’s Denis Hurley Centre, praying and serving lunches three times a week. (Photo: Sr Cathy Murugan) Denis Hurley and Paddy Kearney). Instead, in a chilling anticipation of this, thousands of frightened homeless men and women gathered to bear witness—though definitely not a silent witness—to the failures of an economic system that had left them struggling on the streets while others were busy stockloading everything they could buy. Since those hectic early days, here in Durban we have managed to settle, feed and care for 1 700 homeless people in emergency shelters around the city. Visiting these every day, is a constant reminder to me that the word of God is written not only in sacred scriptures but in the lives of God’s daughters and sons, most of all in the poor and marginalised.

or Catholics this week should be the week which ends our time of Lenten fasting—hence the joy of chocolate at Easter. But for Christians working in this programme, our Lent will continue at least until April 16, and perhaps beyond if the lockdown is extended. It mirrors the Lenten traditions of abstaining (usually from sleep or time with our families), alms-giving (because this

Sarah-Leah Pimentel

The Mustard Seeds

Church continue to deny thousands of our brothers and sisters the very spiritual food that gives us strength to face the challenges that life throws us? In February, just before we entered into this unexpected desert, the Holy Father wrote a response to last year’s Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, in an apostolic exhortation entitled Querida Amazonia. During the synod, it had been greatly hoped that some solutions could be found to ensure that the people of the Amazon region (and this can also include Catholics in rural South Africa or the people living in the Congo Basin and many other unreachable corners of the African continent) are able to access the sacraments regularly. On the issue of access to the sacraments, Pope Francis writes: “They need the celebration of the Eucharist because it ‘makes the Church’. We can even say that ‘no Christian community is built up which does not grow from and hinge on the celebration of the most holy Eucharist’. “If we are truly convinced that this is the case, then every effort should be made to ensure that the Amazonian peoples do not lack this food of new life and the sacrament of forgiveness.” He goes on to say that “we cannot remain unconcerned; a specific and courageous response is required of the Church”. Although one of the suggestions made at the synod was the option of the priestly ordination of viri probati (married men of proven virtue), the Holy Father’s encyclical held off from approving that proposal, even as he said that “the exclusive character received in Holy Orders qualifies the priest alone to preside at the Eucharist”. Perhaps now that we have experienced the desert ourselves, we can empathise more closely with the suffering of our isolated brothers and sisters in other parts of the world. What courageous responses can we find to ensure that they are not left out of the spiritual and physical communion that we hope to enjoy again once the pandemic has passed?

Raymond Perrier

Faith and Society

whole operation is costing the municipality and the NGOs a lot of money) and prayer (for that is the only way that we can get through this together). In fact, we have a team of interfaith chaplains, under the expert guidance of Fr Stephen Tully, a founder of the Denis Hurley Centre. So that means that, even when we do not have time to pray, we know that there are others praying with us and for us. A mark of how typically Durban these chaplains are came when a Christian site manager at the shelter behind the Jewish club invited a Hindu priest to lead Muslim prayers last Friday! Sometimes it feels that each of us is carrying our cross on our own. But so often— as with the African Simon of Cyrene in the Gospel—a stranger emerges from the crowd to help us carry our multiple crosses. So Lent is not a time of relentless darkness, and so too, our experience in the shelters and camps is one which is lightened by moments of grace. The Israelites in the desert complained to Moses that they were better off in Egypt and God sent them manna from heaven. The homeless, like so many of us, having received then complain that they have not had enough. Manna for them has come in the form of endless offers of food—from Christians, Muslims and Hindus—nd also soap and toothpaste and blankets. There have been Gethsemane moments of violence—a crowd of angry homeless men baying at me in the darkness of the night would make for a perfect Caravaggio painting. But there have also been Bethany moments of peace: reuniting a pregnant homeless woman with her boyfriend, or our nurses dressing the wounds of so many who are neglected by Government health services and left to suffer. Continued on page 11

Nthabiseng Maphisa

Pop Culture Catholic

Abracadabra: Magic or miracle?

N times of old, there were those who would utter a single word to cast a spell. There were those who would wave a wand and by its obedience, great sights would be seen. There would be colour and lights and smoke from the cauldron. A pumpkin changed into a chariot for Cinderella and a perpetual sleep was cast upon the Sleeping Beauty. So many of us know of magic through children’s books and television shows. We also know of the miracles performed by Jesus as told in the Gospels. But what is magic and what is a miracle and why is it important to distinguish between the two? I was in primary school when I first saw magic. My classmates and I and were briefly set free from the chains of learning. There on the stage the magician dazzled us with card tricks and never-ending ropes. All around me were murmurs of “oooh” and “ahhhh”. There was awe and wonder—and, from some, mild scepticism. Afterwards, we debated whether the events before us had been real or imagined. It was concluded that the magician, through his skill, had brought us to real imaginings. Going deeper into the pond of things I remember, in my adolescence I had disapproved of magic. Now that I was older I was much “too cool” for that. I saw it as a low form of entertainment for those willing to be fooled and pay for it. In retrospect, due to much confusion and suffering that comes with the teenage territory, I disapproved because I had thought of God as a lazy magician who was unwilling to wave a magic wand in my life. Such a distorted image makes it more difficult to appreciate the miracles worked by Christ. One may have the temptation to see the changing of water into wine as nothing but a ruse orchestrated by a deceiver. But magic is no miracle and a miracle, to be truly what it is, would require more than just magic.

ow, in my early adulthood, I see that the two have different sources and different intended audiences. The illusionist who pulls a queen of hearts out of his sleeve does so to entertain a crowd. Whether this is done through hours of practice or by another kind of power determines the kind of magic to which we should open ourselves. Miracles, on the other hand, are intended to show us the power of God. Recall when Moses stood before Pharaoh who had asked to see a sign. We see how God responded: “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, if Pharaoh demands that you work a sign or wonder, you shall say to Aaron: “Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh and it will be changed into a snake.” God does not provide miracles so we can stare eagerly at them while eating popcorn, nor can we watch them over again on demand. We are invited, much like the doubting Thomas, to poke our fingers through the wounds of Christ, and thus believe. But therein lies the challenge, doesn’t it? For many, it’s easier to believe in magic performed before our eyes than to believe in miracles present to us only in the written words of the evangelists. The Transfiguration of Christ, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the healing of a blind man, the calming of the storm, and—greatest of all—the empty tomb, all we have not seen but in the dark tunnel of our doubt we believe. And so for these things that remain unseen, may God help us in our belief.

The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

COMMUNITY At Kriste Lesedi la Ditjaba church in Bloemfontein, a special Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo in thanksgiving for coworkers and especially for donors who support Lesedi Centre of Hope in its ministry to the sick and poor. Assisting the archbishop was Fr Stephen Ilechukwa of the local Oratorian community.

Holy Family College in Glenmore, Durban, welcomed new and prospective parents and guardians, with Deputy Mayor Belinda Scott (right) cutting the ribbon to officially open the new Grade R class. Visitors enjoyed a demo by Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian group, and classes were open to visitors. Principal Ursula Collings is seen with Mrs Scott and pupils.

Mater Domini Home for pregnant women in crisis in Claremont, Cape Town, held its AGM. Mass was celebrated before the meeting by patron Archbishop Stephen Brislin and committee member Deacon Steven Armstrong in the home’s chapel. (Submitted by Mary Walsh)

The rowing team of Holy Rosary School in Edenvale, Johannesburg, competed in the South African Rowing Champs Weekend at Roodeplaat in March. The team placed fourth overall, and U16s Skyla Laskey and Hannah Raats (pictured) came first in their pairs event.

Anya Beatrice Lotz was confirmed at the church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Durbanville, Cape Town. She took St Esther as her patron.

Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg, assisted by parish priest Fr Tom Segame OMI and Deacon Thabo Thokoane, confirmed young members of St Peter Claver parish in Pimville, Soweto. (Photo: Sello Mokoka)

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Children of Immaculate Conception church in Pinetown, Durban, made their First Confession. They are seen with parish priest Fr Michael Nadaraju.

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St Teresa’s Junior Primary School in Craighall Park, Johannesburg, joined people around the world on Rare Disease Day. (From left) Pupils Rethabile Mphahlele, Kwanda Kumalo, Abigail Nichol, Sadie Roberts and Sophia Kast model their colourful accessories showing their support on the day.

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The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

THE PASSION

Jesus dies on cross; and Christ is risen In the final of five articles on Jesus’ last days, GÜNTHER SIMMERMACHER follows Jesus to Golgotha.

T’S the day after the Passover Sabbath, and presently we are following two people as they are walking home from Jerusalem to their home village of Emmaus. They are dejected, and tell a stranger they meet along the way about the trial and execution of Jesus of Nazareth, “who showed himself a prophet powerful in action and speech before God and the whole people”. One of the two, Cleopas, explains: “Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free.” In a few words, Cleopas sums up the public opinion of those who just a week ago had greeted Jesus with shouts of “Hosanna” and palm branches. They had hoped that this man was a liberation fighter who would defeat the Roman occupiers. Instead, the Romans executed him. So those who had expected Jesus to deliver a political triumph turned against him, or abandoned him, or went home disillusioned. And his other supporters went into hiding, in case they too would be executed for sedition. Only the women, one male disciple and two members of the establishment didn’t turn against or abandon Jesus. And with that observation we rewind to where we left off last week.

The torture begins It’s Friday morning, and Pontius Pilate has just condemned Jesus to death. Jesus is led away to suffer the first portion of his brutal punishment. But first, the soldiers want to have their fun by humiliating their prisoner. They cover Jesus’ face and tell him to prophesy (just as members of the Sanhedrin had done in their kangaroo court). Then they dress him in cloth of royal purple, hand him a reed as a “sceptre”, and press a crown of thorns into his scalp, in imitation of the Roman laurel wreath. They mock the “King of the Jews” and offer him vinegar, probably representing the spiced wine served to kings. But now the amusement has to end: In keeping with the common

Pilgrims outside the edicule in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City, which holds the tomb of Christ—the place from which he rose. (Photo: Debbie Hill/CNS)

Pilgrims pray at the Stone of Unction in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, which marks the spot where Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus prepared Jesus’ body for burial in the tomb. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher) proceedings leading up to a crucifixion, Jesus is tied to a pillar and is flogged to within an inch of his life. That part of the torment completed, the bleeding Jesus is then given his cross to bear. Most likely, it is the bar of the cross on which he will be crucified. He must carry it on his shoulders, the wood chafing against his torn flesh. Every step adds to the torture. Pilgrims in our day follow the path Jesus took to Calvary, which ends at the church of the Holy Sepulchre (whose Catholic Blessed Sacrament chapel holds a reputed part of the column on which Jesus was flogged). The Via Dolorosa was established in the 14th century by the Franciscans of Jerusalem—though the practice of walking the Via Crucis is ancient—and inspired the practice of the Stations of the Cross in our local churches. The route is probably not historically accurate, but the hustle and bustle of the market it goes through hints at the atmosphere of the city as Jesus carried his cross to his crucifixion. The route to Golgotha, just outside the city wall, is not very long, maybe a thousand metres. But Jesus is struggling. Three times he falls. Along the way his mother, Mary, is witness to this pitiful procession. Eventually the Roman guards grab a random passer-by to help, a fellow from North Africa named Simon, from the town of Cyrene (now Shahhat in Libya). Simon of Cyrene doesn’t know it

Station IX—Jesus falls for the third time—outside a Coptic chapel on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. In the background is the dome of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, below which is the tomb of Christ’s resurrection. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher)

yet, but this encounter will convert him (Mark’s Gospel makes it a point of identifying Simon as the father of the early missionaries Alexander and Rufus). A crowd is following the procession, including a group of unnamed, lamenting women. Jesus catches his breath and tells them not to weep for him but for the terrible future their children will face— another prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple. Now two other convicts are joining this parade of the condemned which ends at Golgotha. Once a limestone quarry, it is now adjoined by a garden with rock-cut tombs for the burial of the wealthier citizens. Golgotha, or Calvary, has been covered by the church of Holy Sepulchre ever since the legalisation of Christianity in the fourth century. The historical and archaeological record confirms that this was the site of the crucifixion—we can still touch the spot on which the cross stood—and of the tomb.

The crucifixion The three condemned men are nailed to their respective crosses. Contrary to common perception, the nails are driven not through the palms of Jesus’ hands and the top of his feet, but through the wrists and ankles, since the palms could not hold the body’s weight and would tear. This knowledge of Roman nailing technique is attested to by the discovery in Jerusalem in 1968 of the bones of a man who was crucified, with a nail still stuck in his ankle. Close inspection of wounds of the person on the Shroud of Turin further shows injuries of nails being driven through the wrists. Indeed, all modern forensics of the injury marks on the Shroud of Turin are consistent with the Gospel narrative of Jesus’ torture, scourging and crucifixion. Above Jesus head, the Romans affix the trilingual sign, called the titulus, that describes the crime for his execution: for claiming to be

the “King of the Jews”. Crucifixion is usually a long and painful death, sometimes taking days. The end usually comes from asphyxiation as the weakened body lurches forward, thereby constricting the breathing muscles. Sometimes the victim’s legs are broken to bring on a quicker death. But in Jesus’s case, no bone will be broken. Standing at a distance are the women followers of Jesus, including his distraught mother. With them is the disciple John, to whom Jesus entrusts the welfare of his mother. In the church of the Holy Sepulchre, an inconspicuous chapel—a canopy, really—marks the spot where the group of women stood. It is at the foot of the Golgotha hill, near the tomb where Jesus would be buried. At 3 o’clock in the afternoon, Jesus dies with a loud gasp. The Messiah, born in poverty among animals in a stable, has died like a slave on the cross. His death is accompanied by a sudden darkness (maybe a duststorm from the desert) and tremors (an earthquake?) which tear the curtain in the Temple. The centurion and those with him guarding Jesus are spooked by this. The soldier exclaims: “Truly, he was the Son of God!” Perhaps because they are troubled by these natural phenomena, the soldiers decide to put an end to the executions. The legs of the other two men are broken to hasten their death. One soldier, tradition names him as Longinus, makes certain Jesus is dead by piercing his side. Water and blood pour from the wound—blood for the sacrifice; water for the new life.

Jesus is buried Now Jesus’ body must be interred before nightfall signals the beginning of the Sabbath, when burials are not allowed. The rich have tombs, usually hewn out of the rock, for their burial (as described a few weeks ago, when we were in Bethany). Those of lesser means are buried in 2mdeep shaft graves. The ground-burial would be the fate of Jesus’ corpse, but the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea—a Pharisee who had spoken up for Jesus at his interrogation in the Sanhedrin—has secured permission from Pontius Pilate to take care of Jesus’ body.

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Taking care of the dead is widely regarded as the most selfless form of charity because it cannot be reciprocated. With his friend Nicodemus, Joseph wraps Jesus’ tormented body in a shroud which he bought on the way back from Pilate. They apply spices, bought by Nicodemus, so that when the time comes to properly anoint the body after the Sabbath, it will not smell. They then carry the shrouded body to Joseph’s yet unused tomb, place it on the ledge, and close the tomb with a heavy stone. The Christians of Jerusalem always knew where the tomb was, even when it was covered by a Roman temple for 200 years. Since 336 AD, Christians have venerated the tomb in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. In 2017 the ledge on which Joseph and Nicodemus placed Jesus was exposed for the first time in half a millennium during restoration work. At the prompting of the high priest, Pontius Pilate has appointed two soldiers to guard the tomb. Jesus is dead. The story of another failed Messiah has come to an end. His mother and friends are grieving; his supporters, like the pair we met at the top of this article, are downhearted. The 11 closest aides are in hiding. The story of Jesus is over...

Date of Resurrection On Sunday morning, a group of women—the men who wrote the Gospels can’t agree who exactly was in that group—come to the unguarded tomb to complete the burial of Jesus. But they find it open and apparently empty. The reader does not need to be told about what happens next. Suffice it to say: The Lord is Risen! And what date is today, that first Easter? Based on the testimony of the synoptic Gospels that Jesus was executed on Friday, the 15th of Nisan in the lunar Jewish calendar, the most credible calculations place the event in the year 33 AD. This means that the date of the Resurrection—the moment without which our faith is in vain (1 Cor 15:17)—is April 5. Let us return to the two followers whom we accompanied in the beginning of this article? Having realised just who that mysterious stranger they have met is, they are sprinting back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples that they have encountered the Risen Christ. But we dealt with that in last year’s two-part series (Click Here).

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The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

PERSONALITY

Faith inspires Catholic singer Catholic recording artist and choirmaster Molebogeng Kearabilwe finds inspiration for her music in her faith and in pilgrimages. She spoke to DALUXOLO MOLOANTOA.

with the sheer oppression in which the Palestinian people are living under the Israeli occupation. “No people deserve to live under the conditions by which they live; more so because they are such a warm and welcoming people,” she emphasised. Her favourite food in the Holy Land was falafel and salad in pita bread. “It is lovely Mediterranean food, with lots of interesting spices,” she said. As a musician, she found many similarities between the music of the Eastern-rite Catholics and the Arab Muslims. “The music varies according to the religious tradition of the area, but most of it is tonal and rhythmic. It truly was something special,” she noted. “The music always drove me into a meditative state, and is deeply moving and awakening to one’s spirit. It truly lifts the mind to God.” Going up the Mount of Olives and looking down over Jerusalem proved to be an experience of sheer serenity.

OLEBOGENG Kearabilwe is a well-known Catholic singer, choirmaster and song composer in Pretoria. But few people know of her other passion: travelling to holy sites, particularly of the Catholic faith, throughout the world. The 31-year-old lecturer at Sefako Makgatho University, who is from Garankuwa township, north of Pretoria, has so far visited three of these sites. A past national president of the Association of Catholic Tertiary Students (ACTS), Molebogeng caught the travel bug because of her love for music. That love began in her early teens. Molebogeng was then a member of the Junior Chiro Movement, and an altar server at her parish of Christ the King, in Zone 3 in Garankuwa. When a member of the Junior Chiro movement relocated, she was asked to step into his shoes, and compose songs for the Garankuwa branch of the movement. “It was then that I discovered that I could compose music. Every time we had a drama, choir or poetry competition, it was my duty to ensure that the musical side was well covered,” she recalled. Molebogeng learned how to play the guitar in 2011. She was taught by Marco Cavanaro, who was a seminarian of the Neocatechumenal Way serving in the Waterkloof community of Pretoria. He is now a priest in the Netherlands. In 2012 she travelled to the United States on a tour with the much-celebrated University of Pretoria Choir, where she was a student. The following year she went to Zürich in Switzerland to complete a masters degree in human anatomy. Since then she has travelled on pilgrimage to Taizé in France, and on holiday to Rome, Italy.

A new perspective However, it was Molebogeng’s recent private pilgrimage to the Holy Land which turned her whole perspective on her Catholic faith around. “I wanted to visit the Holy Land because I wanted to see where Jesus lived. I wanted to experience

Highlights of Holy Land

Molebogeng Kearabilwe plays an oud, the most popular musical instrument in Arabic music, during her recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land. something of what he had lived,” she said. Her initial impression of the Holy Land was that, despite rapid developments in the region over the past centuries, much has stayed the same as it was in the old days “On my first Friday in Jerusalem I was part of a tourist group taking the guided walk [on the Via Dolorosa] which Jesus had walked on his way to the cross”, she recalled. “On this particular Friday the usual guides were nowhere in sight, so the walk became somewhat of a chaotic affair. It was only after a while, and in hindsight, that I realised that it was, in fact, a blessing in disguise, as that is most likely how the original walk would have been: chaotic.” She considers her most beautiful experience of her stay there as having visited the Western Wall, the most sacred site in Judaism. “I prayed, and put my prayers like others in the cracks on the wall. It was a most intense, but beautiful experience.” She explained that when visit-

ing the Western Wall, one has to take a few steps back when leaving it, in line with a centuries-old tradition. “The reason for this is that you are showing that you hold Jerusalem as your highest joy. You cannot turn your back to it,” she explained. Molebogeng said that there were a number of places she visited where she encountered a particular energy in the air. One of these was the Upper Room on Mount Zion, which recalls the Last Supper and the first Pentecost, where a fellow pilgrim had to be carried out on a stretcher due to an emotional experience. Another site was at the Dome of the Rock, Islam’s third-holiest site. “As non-Muslims we were not allowed inside. Nevertheless, the energy I encountered at this Muslim site strengthened my belief in the fact that...we are all on the same path,” she reflected.

Heartbreaking Bethlehem But the trip into Bethlehem broke her heart in two. She had not expected to come face-to-face

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Another high point was entering into the House of Caiaphas, now the Mount Zion church of St Peter in Gallicantu (“St Peter where the cock crowed”), which is run by the Assumptionist Sisters. This is where Jesus was tried and kept in captivity before he was taken to Pontius Pilate to be condemned. “It was surreal for me because I have composed a song about his experience during this time”, she pointed out. Other highlights were celebrating Mass at Golgotha in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, and visiting Nazareth, especially the church of St Joseph which recalls the family life of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. She would love to visit the Holy Land again. But before that, she will be making preparations for her next excursion to another Catholic Holy Site. “This time I’ll be visiting a holy site which is off the beaten track,” she said. “It’s a choice between the shrine of Our Lady of Kibeho in Rwanda, the shrine of the Martyrs of Uganda, or Guadalupe in Mexico.” One thing is certain, however:

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where she goes, Molebogeng will pick up music. “My faith and music are inspired by the places I visit,” she said. Molebogeng has recently released a double-album of original Catholic compositions, titled Duduetsang (Rejoice). “The album has 20 of my original compositions, and except for two songs, it’s all in my mother tongue, Setswana,” she said. “As great as it is to sing in other languages, it is equally important to promote our own languages through music, too,” she noted.

Feedback to music The album was profiled on a vernacular music show on Radio Veritas hosted by Thato Mokoena. “The feedback I receive from people is what makes it worthwhile,” the singer said. “I was recently contacted by someone who, like me, enjoys going on pilgrimages. The person told me that for their last pilgrimage, they used my album as preparation for the trip. I was touched by the sentiment.” Her market is surprisingly international. Duduetsang has been bought by people living in Germany, Zimbabwe, Malawi and the UK. It is available online at Amazon, i T u n e s , iHeart and GooglePlay. When she’s not lecturing, travelling or working on her music, Molebogeng is engaged in various other Church-centred activities. She leads retreats and meditation weekends at various retreat centres, and gives motivational talks, mostly at ACTS branches nationwide. She also acts as a spiritual guide—”Not director, as I’m not trained to be such,” she stressed— to Catholic students at Sefako Makgato Medical University in particular. Molebogeng is also a conductor and sings in the Christ the New Man parish choir. The title song of her latest album, “Duduetsang”, has been a part of the choir’s Christmas repertoire since it was released. n Molebogeng can be reached on her Facebook fan page (@Molebogeng Keamogetswe) or by e-mail at mole bok@gmail.com.

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The Southern Cross, April 8 to April 14, 2020

YOUR CLASSIFIEDS

Br Evenie Turner OFM

RANCISCAN Brother Evenie Turner of Port Elizabeth died on Sunday, March 29, at the age of 56. Born to Venus Rose Turner in 1963, he was the eldest of five brothers and two sisters. First living in Rudolph Street, South End, the family was moved to Gelvandale and eventually settled in the Chatty area. Evenie attended Chatty Senior Secondary, after which he worked as an engraver in the tool room of Guestro Wheels. Evenie supported the family financially and spiritually. He was supported by Deacon Desmond Plaatjies at St Joseph’s church. Deacon Plaatjies was like a father to the family and a brother to Evenie, whom he supported through his darkest moments. Evenie followed the calling of St Francis in 1992. He resigned from his job and joined the Order of Friars Minor, or Franciscans. In the words of his brother Luan Jacobs: “Evenie was soft-

spoken, well-mannered, kindhearted and helpful.” As a Franciscan he accepted the way of St Francis and made his final vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the 1990s. Like St Francis and the first Christian martyr, St Stephen, Br Evenie chose to become a deacon and not a priest. Fr Anthony Spencer, a fellow Franciscan from Port Elizabeth,

recalled the moment during the final vows when the provincial asked: “Evenie, what do you ask of the Church?” The script for the procedure says, “I wish to profess myself to solemn vows”, but without looking at the text, Evenie eagerly shouted out in a loud voice: “Final vows!” Then a discerning youngster, Fr Spencer met Br Evenie at vocations workshops in the northern areas of Port Elizabeth, arranged by Sr Carmel in the 1980s. “Evenie was an all-rounder, happy, and his door was always open to others,” Fr Spencer said. I met Br Evenie in a modest Pretoria flat in the 1990s through a mutual friend, Fr Eldridge Davids, who was then a seminarian. My first and lasting impression of Br Evenie was of a man who, like St Francis of Assisi, was inspired by Jesus’ instruction to his disciples: “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts” (Matthew 10:9). By Rupert Borman

SA’s time for Resurrection Continued from page 9 The Gospels and the Book of Exodus are both stories of journeys. Our homeless are of course not moving (or not supposed to), but some are undergoing profound inner journeys. This lockdown gives an opportunity to reflect on their lives, to talk to counsellors and social workers, and most importantly to cleanse themselves of the shame of the drugs that destroy their souls. The Gospel is a story of turning the world upside down to find our common humanity. In the same way, the experience of the homeless shelters has created unexpected paradoxes: a homeless man, Bongani Madida, who is a site manager, being addressed as “Sir” by the police; NGOs and municipal officials working side by side rather than at loggerheads; homeless people discovering that their basic needs can be met by the government once they are considered a priority; people of all religious communities working with each other in partnership. When I worked with the Jesuit Refugee Service in a Ugandan camp many years ago, a favourite Biblical text was from Revelation (21:1ff) which speaks of a new heaven and new earth. In these weeks of lockdown I have

seen glimpses of a new South Africa, one that we are preparing for now: women not abandoned on the streets but living in a municipally-funded shelter; homeless men being protected by the police while they sleep rather than lying in fear; homeless leaders finding their voices and showing that they are agents and not victims; elderly and disabled homeless people receiving the respect and care that they deserve (in this case at the DHC and the YMCA); members of the public almost competing with each other to help those in need. For us this is a long Good Friday. It will last till April 16; it may well be extended beyond then. But it will end with new life. We know that the Jews wandered 40 years in the desert, that Catholics fast for 40 days during Lent, and South Africa struggled for over 40 years through apartheid. But we also know that liberation will arrive and we shall overcome. Individuals will overcome their addictions and their sense of loss; key players will overcome their pride and learn to work together; and as a city Durban will be as proud of our compassion as we are of our beaches and our conference centres. There will be a time of Resurrection.

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PRAYERS

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.

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. 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

PRAYER FOR INNER PEACE: Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either he will shield you from suffering, or he will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then. Put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations, and say continually: “The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart has trusted in him and I am helped. He is not only with me but in me, and I in him. PRAYER FOR GUIDANCE: O Lord, I give you my worries and concerns and I ask for your guidance. You see it all, the outer circumstances, the inner turmoil. I know that you understand my life, that

sometimes my heart weighs heavy with trouble. Right now I lay all these things before you. I breathe in, safe in the knowledge that I am held by grace. I breathe out, knowing that I am held secure in your arms. And I wait on you. For you are all truth, you are overflowing love, you are a beacon of hope and a fortress of faith. Lord, I choose to be attentive to your voice. May I be alert to your Spirit’s guiding as I journey onwards with you. I love you Father. Amen.

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Southern CrossWord solutions

Our bishops’ anniversaries

SOLUTIONS TO 910. ACROSS: 1 Fibs, 3 Psalmody, 9 Lisieux, 10 Known, 11 Collaborator, 13 Lairds, 15 Prison, 17 Cornerstones, 20 Hedge, 21 Cheerio, 22 Parishes, 23 Sees. DOWN: 1 Felt cold, 2 Basil, 4 Sexton, 5 Like a brother, 6 Odorous, 7 Yens, 8 Herald angels, 12 Inkspots, 14 In order, 16 Creche, 19 Chip.

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

FROM OUR VAULTS 26 Years Ago: April 10, 1994

Liturgical Calendar Year A – Weekdays Cycle Year 2 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 Monday April 13, Easter Octave Acts 2:14, 22-33, Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11, Matthew 28:8-15 Tuesday April 14, Easter Octave Acts 2:36-41, Psalm 33:4-5, 18-20, 22, John 20:11-18 Wednesday April 15, Easter Octave Acts 3:1-10, Psalm 105:1-4, 6-9, Luke

24:13-35 Thursday April 16, Easter Octave Acts 3:11-26, Psalm 8:2, 5-9, Luke 24:35-48 Friday April 17, Easter Octave Acts 4:1-12, Psalm 118:1-2, 4, 22-27, John 21:1-14 Saturday April 18, Easter Octave Acts 4:13-21, Psalm 118:1, 14-21, Mark 16:9-15 Sunday April 19, 2nd Sunday of Easter Acts 2:42-47, Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 2224, 1 Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31

SA’s first cardinal dies at 86 The Southern Cross describes the late Cardinal Owen McCann of Cape Town, who died on March 26 at 86, as a “firm and impressive person”. Cardinal McCann edited The Southern Cross from 1941-48 and again from 1986-91. Nelson Mandela, president of the African National Congress, said Cardinal McCann “lived a life of service to God and to his people, which is an inspiration to all of us”. Messages from the National Party government were, however, conspicuously absent.

Bishops to politicians: Stop war talk After political violence in Johannesburg and Soweto, the bishops of Southern Africa condemn inflammatory political rhetoric, saying that for too long the country has seen political leaders charging emotions and engaging in “irresponsible war talk”.

Vatican study inspired Anglicans An unofficial Vatican study in the 1970s which found no doctrinal biblical grounds for excluding women from the priesthood was influential in the Church of England’s decision to ordain women, Anglican Rev Douglas Brown has claimed.

No purge in Catholic schools Easter Sunday

Second Sunday of Easter

The Azanian Students’ Movement has assured Catholic education authorities that their campaign to remove white teachers from black schools is not aimed at Church schools.

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the

2nd Sunday of Easter: April 19 Readings: Acts 2:42-47, Psalm 118:2-4, 1315,22-24, 1 Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31

HAT does it look like, to believe in the Resurrection, this Easter season? Well, for one thing, it seems to involve having a robust and tight-knit community. This we learn from the first reading, the first of a large number of readings from Acts over the next few weeks. They “stuck to the teaching of the apostles, and to solidarity, to the breaking of bread [presumably the Eucharist] and to prayers”. And they had their effect on those who observed them: “awe” and “portents and signs [happening] through the apostles”. Not only that, but “all those who believed were on the same page, and they held everything in common”. And they maintained their Jewish devotions and “were every day unanimously in the Temple, breaking bread at home; and they shared food with joy and with generosity of heart”. In a characteristic Lucan touch, they “were praising God and winning favour in the sight of all the people”. Not only that, but “the Lord was adding the number of those who were being saved every day, to the same end”. It is a wonderful picture of a united community. That is what Resurrection does. The psalm is a lovely one, and was quoted by Jesus precisely in relation to his death and

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Resurrection: “The stone the builders rejected has turned into the corner-stone.” But there is more: it starts with the affirmation (repeated three times) that “the Lord’s steadfast love is forever”; and that insight is at the heart of our celebrations. “I was hardpressed, ready to fall, and the Lord was my help”. The Lord is described here as “my help, my strength, my might; he was my saviour”. That is a good song to be singing at Easter, and so is the refrain: “This is the day that the Lord made—let us rejoice and be glad in it.” The second reading starts us off on several weeks of reading the first letter of Peter. It starts with a prayer for God to be blessed, “who in accordance with his great mercy has given us new birth into a living hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ”. This new birth is described (and I hope you are feeling something of this) as “leading to an imperishable and undefiled and unfading inheritance, kept in heaven for you”. Not only that, but we are described as “rejoicing, even if it is necessary to be grieved for a while with different temptations”. The Gospel is the one we hear each year on this second Sunday of Easter, the story, first

of Jesus’ appearance to the disciples, and then of his self-revelation to Thomas the Doubter. What does this tell us about Resurrection? Firstly, it seems, that it does not bring us automatically and inevitably to joyful faith. The disciples are in terror behind locked doors “for fear of the Judeans”, and recognise Jesus only when they see “his hands and his side”, the dark marks of his brutal torture. However, Jesus does not waste time in reproaching them, simply “breathed upon them” and gave them a “mission”: “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you”, and “receive the Holy Spirit”. That is Part 1. Part 2 takes its origin from the fact of Thomas’ absence from Part 1, and the gloating of his colleagues (“We’ve seen the Lord!”) provoking his brutal demand for evidence: “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and throw my finger into the mark of the nails, and throw my hand into his side, no way am I going to believe” (so belief in Resurrection evidently has something to do with recognising that the awfulness of that death has been reversed). Then, a week later, Jesus is there again—and this time Thomas is with them. We are curious

The happy ending is here W

Cosmic Christ at the end of time, he was challenged by a sceptic to this effect: “That’s a lot of wishful thinking and optimism. But suppose we blow up the world with a nuclear bomb, what happens to your wishful thinking then?” Teilhard’s answer wonderfully distinguishes genuine Christian hope both from wishful thinking and natural optimism, even as it affirms what the Resurrection of Jesus guarantees. He responded in words to this effect: “If we blow up the world with a nuclear bomb, well, that would be a two-millionyear setback. But what I’m proposing will happen, not because I wish it so or have empirical evidence to warrant it. It will happen because Christ promised it, and in the Resurrection, God showed that God has the power to deliver on that promise.” What we believe in, as Christians, is not based on wishful thinking or natural optimism. It’s based on the word and promises of Jesus and the trustworthiness of that word and those promises are guaranteed by the Resurrection of Jesus. When we believe this, we can live our lives without undue anxiety about anything, confident that the end of our story is already written and that it’s a happy ending. If we believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, if we believe in the Resurrection, then, in essence, we believe that the world is already saved. We don’t have to save the world; we

Conrad

E are all, I suspect, familiar with the well-known expression from Julian of Norwich, now an axiom in our language. She once famously wrote: In the end all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of being shall be well. To which Oscar Wilde is reported to have added: “And if it isn’t well, then it’s still not the end.” Few words better express what we celebrate in the Resurrection of Jesus. Belief in the Resurrection, belief that God raised Jesus from the dead, constitutes the very ground of our Christian faith. Everything else we believe in as Christians is based on that truth. As St Paul says, if Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead, we are the most deluded of all people. But if God did raise Jesus, and we believe that he did, then not only can the rest of Jesus’ message be trusted, we can then live with the ultimate consolation that the end of our story has already been written and it is a happy, ecstatic ending. We will, in the end, live happily ever after. Life is indeed a fairytale. How does the Resurrection of Jesus guarantee that? Here’s how Fr Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, that wonderful scientist and Jesuit mystic from the previous generation, answered. Once, having just made a presentation within which he showed a vision of how the cosmos and all of life will come together in one final harmony inside the

Nicholas King SJ

United in our belief

‘Charlie’s holiday job meant a disastrous Lent but a glorious Easter’

The

Sunday Reflections

to know how this is going to work out. First, though, we notice that the disciples were not terribly convinced by that first appearance, since the doors are still locked. Jesus cannot be kept out, though, and addresses Thomas, just as though he had heard that previous conversation: “Bring your finger here, and bring your hand, and throw it into my side.” We are intrigued to know how Thomas will respond, and it is quite astonishing. For he goes way beyond the evidence, and comes to identify what Resurrection means about who Jesus is: his breath quite taken away, he murmurs, “My Lord and my God”. Jesus then offers us, too, a word of comfort: “Congratulations to those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Then the evangelist tells us why he bothered to write this extraordinary Gospel: “that you may come to faith that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that in believing you may have life in his name”. Do you see what impact belief in the Resurrection might have on us this week?

Southern Crossword #910

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

only have to live in the face of the fact that we believe it has already been saved. And if we live in the face of that belief we can risk everything, risk our very lives, knowing that the ending of our story has already been written and that it’s a happy one, no matter how dire things might look at present.

e see a wonderful example of this kind of belief in Archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of the key figures in opposing and eventually bringing down apartheid. At the heart of the struggle, he remained steadfast and even joyful in the face of every kind of threat and overwhelming odds. What anchored him? Belief in the Resurrection of Jesus. Occasionally on a Sunday morning when he would be preaching, armed soldiers would come into the church and line up along the aisles with their weapons in hand, hoping to intimidate him. Archbishop Tutu, for his part, would smile at them and say: “I am glad you’ve come to join the winning side! We’ve already won!” In saying this, he wasn’t talking about the battle over apartheid which, at that point, was still far from won. He was talking about the Resurrection of Jesus, the definitive triumph of goodness over evil, which assures that, in the end, goodness will eventually triumph over evil, love over division, justice over injustice, and life over death. Knowing that, we can live life in confidence and hope. It will end well, not because we wish it so or because things are looking that way for us. It will end well because Jesus promised it would and in the Resurrection, God backs up that promise. Hence there’s nothing to fear, nothing—not defeat, not threat, not loss, not sickness, not even death. The Resurrection of Jesus assures us that in the end all shall be well, and all shall be well, and every manner of being shall be well. And if it isn’t well…well, then it’s still not the end!

ACROSS

1.White lies (4) 3. Lady mops around Old Testament hymns (8) 9. Town of the Little Flower (7) 10. Recognised (5) 11. He works in association (12) 13. They own lands in the Highlands (6) 15. I was in... and you came to see me (Mt 25) (6) 17. They’re of prime importance to architects (12) 20. Row of bushes at church edge (5) 21. Eastern co-heir mixed up saying goodbye (7) 22. Has spire in church regions (8) 23. Looks at dioceses (4)

DOWN

1. And maybe shivered (4,4) 2. Aromatic plant for the saint (5) 4. So, next old sacristan (6) 5. How the male religious might treat you? (4,1,7) 6. Giving off a smell (7) 7. Are they desires for money in Japan? (4) 8. They sang at the Nativity (6,6) 12. Stains on the scribe’s fingers (8) 14. In the convent and in good shape (2,5) 16. Nativity scene in the nursery (6) 18. She’s mostly in hospital (5) 19. One off the old block (4)

Solutions on page 13

CHURCH CHUCKLE

FTER Easter Mass last year, Ernie was greeted by the priest outside the church. After briefly exchanging pleasantries, Ernie issued a criticism: “It was a beautiful Mass, Father, but I think you’re getting in a rut.” “How so?” asked the priest, clearly taken aback. Ernie explained: “Because every time I come to church, you preach about the Resurrection.”

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