LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letters

We welcome your letters, while reserving the right to edit them. We may publish your letters on our website. Please include a postal address (not for publication). Letters should be no longer than 350 words. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances at the Editor’s discretion. Send your letters to editor@scross.co.za

Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication or those of the Catholic hierarchy.

ThepathtoEden

THE BIBLE SHOWS HOW WE CAN enter the Garden of Eden. In the Book of Genesis (1:29), God says: “I have provided all kinds of grain and herbs and fruit for you to eat. ”

We humans are meant to be vegetarians. Our teeth are similar to those of horses and sheep, both herbivores. Lions and dogs, with their sharp teeth, are by nature meat eaters. Daniel’s diet suggests that only vegetables give excellent health: “At the end of the ten days, [those given only vegetables to eat and water to drink] looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food [meat and wine]” (Daniel 1:12-16).

To that end, we must also give land, say 300 m² , on a free leasehold for 30-50 years per homeless family. It will provide food and shelter.

I pray at each meal: “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in Bethlehem you were homeless and cold. Touch the hearts of our leaders to share land with the homeless so they can have food and shelter permanently. ” Maria Joao, Cape Town

ThelookofJesus

YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF THE numerous accolades that your publication is receiving, and rightly so, not only for its quality but also its content which is world class.

In your editorial of the June issue, you revisit a topic previously raised some years ago by one of your correspondents dealing with “The look of Jesus” . I recall being taught in catechism that God made humans in his own image and likeness. The fact that no two people look alike, except for identical twins, leads us to fairly assume that God intended all of us humans to be in his image and likeness. The continual debate as to how Jesus looked seems to refer to depictions in art during the Renaissance period. In art circles, depictions are considered to fall under artistic licence, and they can be complimentary or downright ugly. There is nothing stopping a modern artist from using artistic licence, and we know that some artists have depicted Jesus as other than European.

We also know that St Faustina, the Polish mystic nun, was given an image of Jesus in an apparition to replicate, and it is displayed in many Catholic churches.

Bernard Moat, St Helena Bay

‘PowerHour’in thefirstpew

IWAS A TEEN IN THE 1970s AND consider myself an old-school Catholic. While I know that times have changed and a lot for the better, I am scandalised by the behaviour of some parishioners.

I joined a small parish out in the country nearly 20 years ago. The resident priest was being transferred, but before he left, he made time to bless our home. I did hear a few negative comments said about him; one was even bluntly asking: “Has he gone yet?”

Subsequently, new and very young priests have been assigned here, and I am saddened how certain “first families” treat them. The priests are literally bamboozled into doing things “their” way. The priests make their appeals through their homilies, saying, “Stop talking about what you’ve done and how much you contribute and how much it cost to have major repair work done to the church. ” These parishioners will not listen or see reason. You know how bad things really are when the priest throws his hands up in despair during his homily and says: “This is your parish!”

The families in question always sit in the front pews, stiff necks and all, and no-one ever dares sit there, unless it’s known they are away. I wish priests would tell these arrogant folk to try a new experiment and sit elsewhere.

My husband calls the Mass their “Power Hour” , and refuses to return to church, as have many others.

Name withheld

‘Uncatholic’bishops?

IN HIS LETTER ON ARCHBISHOP Desmond Tutu (April 2022), Cardinal Wilfrid Napier mentions the late Anglican archbishop’s divergence from Catholic teaching on issues like the use of condoms, homosexual acts, ordination of women, papal authority and so on. The cardinal forgot to mention the most important issue: abortion.

But Catholics should be careful not to stigmatise Archbishop Tutu because of these uncatholic issues, as not a few Catholic bishops promote the same ideas as this Anglican archbishop once held. JG Goossens, Pretoria

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Marie Helen Lise

Inlovingmemoryof MarieHelenLisePage, whopassedaway peacefullyonthe 5thofJune2022. Lovingwifetothelate NoelPageandcaring mothertoClaire,Bern, Patrick,andthelateNiki. Mayhersoulrestinpeace.

A vessel for our journey

IN THE BACK PAGES OF MY memory, I recall the day I began nursery school. I was, on the surface, confident and ready to embrace the rigorous demands of colouring-in and naptime. There were other children who seemed as eager as I was to begin the journey.

But one mother came with her little girl and joined the league of parents nervously handing over their children. Despite a hug and a kiss goodbye, the little girl could not bear the sight of her mother’s departure. The consolations did not suffice and the little girl wailed uncontrollably. Unexpectedly, I soon found myself sharing in her sorrow and begged my own mother to stay. Some way, somehow, I eventually stopped crying and so did she, and both of our mothers left to complete the tasks of their day.

I believe that there is something in this moment of vulnerability that can teach us about why we should cling to the Blessed Mother.

In the Litany of Loreto, we see that Our Lady is known by many titles. Among those, there is one with a maritime allusion, the “Vessel of Honour”” . Fishermen, in the wisdom of their trade, go to great lengths to choose a sturdy ship by which they may set out to sail.

Likewise, we who traverse the treacherous waters of life, should do so in this most impenetrable “Vessel of Honour” . For if God saw Our Lady as being worthy of holding the life of his own son, who are we to scorn her? And if it was necessary that St Joseph, “Terror of Demons” and patron of the Universal Church, had to first become espoused to her Immaculate Heart before seeing the face of Jesus, who are we to sever ourselves from her?

Be a child as Christ was

The plan of salvation for all of us required a place for the Holy Spirit to dwell and bear fruit. It is the hope of God that, as we entrust ourselves to Mary’s care, we may see with our own eyes that the Lord has visited her and remains there. It is then that our faith is conceived, nourished and raised to maturity. We will be a child as Christ was a child; we will have a mother as Christ had a mother.

And what will become of those who imitate Christ by sharing in the mother-

“ b T y he Wi Vir llia gin wit m-Ado h lp A h n e gels” from Bouguere 18 au 81 hood obedi there that n ence s will be ourished him? hould run its the reign of th Well, if course, e Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is at the greeting of Our Lady by her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 12:4145) that we encounter the message of God. For though the Lord appears distant in a radiant heaven far away, the divine essence or the “fullness of the deity” comes to us (Colossians 2:9). He journeys towards us, to the faraway lands where we reside — or sometimes hide. He comes to us veiled in the light of a virgin. When Mary greets us and when we invite her to stay in our time of need, she does not hesitate to take on the work that must be done. She does not come for her own sake or to impose her own instruction. She is “the handmaid of the Lord” and does his work accordingly. Let us not be fooled into thinking that such work is pretty, glamorous or dainty. Not so, I say, not so. Her sorrowful heart, pierced by a sword, slices through the sliminess of sin. And when she finds us there, marinating in mud and murkiness, she carries us to her beloved son who himself begins the work of purification. Let us cry out for the Blessed Mother as did the infant Jesus at his birth. May she always hold us in her care and never depart. May she cradle us in her Immaculate Heart — a heart worthy to carry the Messiah. Though the tides make us wary We sail upon a vessel blessed. Cry for the Virgin Mary That she may carry us to our rest.

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