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LEVINIA PIENAAR: The Christmas I cried

WAITING FOR JESUS All about Advent

STORY OF A CAROL ‘We Three Kings’

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The Catholic Magazine for Southern Africa

December 2020

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Advent & Christmas Edition PULL-OUT POSTER: JMJ – THE HOLY FAMILY

INTERVIEW WITH SR HERMENEGILD MAKORO

Missio Aachen wishes The Southern Cross all the best on its centenary, and takes pleasure in congratulating the publication and the editorial staff on this great occasion, truly a reason to celebrate.

Keep up the good work implemented throughout such a long time and be assured that we are by your side as partners and friends.

With our heartfelt congratulations and all the blessings for the future.

SERVANTS OF GOD: Danny (28/12/2012) and Domitilla (18/1/2011) Hyams.

In loving memory of our beloved Founders of LITTLE EDEN Society.

God grant them His eternal rest as we continue to spread their legacy of Respect, Sanctity of Life and Love & Care.

We ask for prayers for the Cause of their beatification as a couple.

LITTLE EDEN ‘angels’ and staff thank you for your support.

We wish you a blessed Christmas and a healthy 2021!

Hyams family, residents, CEO and staff of LITTLE EDEN Society

O come, little children, O come one and all, To Bethlehem haste, to the manger so small, God’s son for a gift has been sent you this night To be your redeemer, your joy and delight The Ursuline Schools of South Africa, Brescia House School and St Ursula’s School, wish the Catholic community a blessed Christmas.

Visit www.brescia.co.za and www.stursulas.co.za

Welcome

Good riddance to 2020!

Dear Reader,

I

N A YEAR OF MANY UNCERTAINTIES, WE CAN be sure of one thing: this year’s Christmas will be different for all of us — even if a few of us somehow escaped the many consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. Some of the differences will be obvious. For example, at Christmas Mass we probably won’t be allowed to belt out “Joy To The World” or wish fellow parishioners a happy feast of the Nativity with a hug or handshake.

But the pandemic will have changed all of us in some way or another, in ways we can already see and others which may yet reveal themselves.

The annus horribilis 2020 has been absurd. These days, the banks want us to wear masks. Bankrobbers might now enter a bank without a mask and threaten their victims: “Hands up or we’ll cough!” Take the byline picture we have chosen to accompany this article: This is not a photo of a crook in cunning disguise on a crime spree but your faithful editor in the act of taking his tailwagging dog for a walk. This is the preposterous look of 2020.

But soon enough, the coronavirus pandemic will subside, and before too long some of us — the lucky ones who didn’t lose life or livelihood and those who didn’t go hungry — may even reminisce with a certain fondness about how we navigated the crisis. “Remember when we couldn’t buy smokes?” “Oh yes, and curfew at 8!” We’ll laugh at these strange times, even if our mirth will be laced with the bitterness at the kleptocrats who stole our country’s money and future.

B

ut before we can say goodbye and good riddance to this objectionable year, we have the season of Advent and the Good News it prepares us for. Whatever the effects of the pandemic, we will be faced again with the annual conflict between the secular and spiritual preparations for Christmas.

For us Catholics, Advent is a penitential season.

Our priests wear violet at Mass, and we are called to quiet spiritual reflection, devotion and acts of charity during those four weeks before the feast of the Nativ-

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ity. But in the frenzy of preparing for the holidays, shopping for gifts, planning the festivities — what the secular world calls the “Christmas season” — it is easy to lose sight of the contemplation which Advent calls us to. For many Catholics, it takes a conscious effort to set aside quiet time for Advent. But it is important that we find ways of doing so.

Of course, Christmas is not over when all the presents have been unwrapped and the last guests have left the Boxing Day get-together. For us, Christmas is just beginning — the true Christmas season only begins on December 25. It ends with the feast of the Epiphany on January 6, and liturgically with the feast of the Baptism of Jesus the week after. During that time we may still wish others “Merry Christmas” — and, please, not the ghastly “Season’s Greetings” or “Compliments of the Season” — and sing carols like “We Three Kings”, the history of which features on page 25.

With this in mind, our Christmas content in this edition remains pertinent well into January. Indeed, we believe our content is relevant all year around, for the Good News never goes stale.

We wish to thank again all the people who have encouraged us with kind words about the first two editions of the monthly Southern Cross magazine. Much as we miss the weekly newspaper, the magazine has captured the imagination of many people, some of whom had never read the weekly. We have some great ideas to make the magazine even better in 2021. As ever, your comments and suggestions are welcome!

May your Christmas be filled with joy, faith and many blessings (celebrated with all the necessary safety precautions), and may your 2021 be a much happier year than the one we are about to leave behind.

Yours in Christ,

Günther Simmermacher (Editor)

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS: R Shields (chair), Bishop S Sipuka, Bp S David OMI (alt), S Duval, E Jackson, B Jordan, Sr H Makoro CPS, C Mathieson, N Mpushe, R Perrier, D Shikwambana, G Stubbs

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Contents DECEMBER 2020

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Sodalities of charity In his series on sodalities, Fr S’milo Mngadi looks at those that exist to serve the poor

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The new bishop of the Holy Land The new patriarch of Jerusalem talks about his life and the challenges facing the Holy Land

14 Tears for missed Christmas Mass Levinia Pienaar recalls a Christmas in Sudan

15 Christmas gifts with meaning Suggestions for presents that convey God’s love

10 Sr Hermenegild

interviewed

16 Why Mary was born without sin For its December 8 feast, Michael Ogunu explains the Immaculate Conception of Mary

21 Christmas around the world A collection of Christmas photos

24 Mary, did you know?

In a Christmas reflection, Fr Ralph de Hahn contemplates Mary at the manger

25 Biography of a Christmas carol Günther Simmermacher tells the story of the evergreen Christmas carol “We Three Kings”

34 Resolutions to build faith 2021 is approaching and we offer ideas for faith-building New Year’s resolutions

EVERY MONTH 6

The story of the Holy Family

17

With pull-out poster!

12 What you need to know about Advent

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED You ask, and our team of experts replies

27 THE MILLENNIAL CATHOLIC Nthabiseng Maphisa on becoming a spiritual rock star

28 RAYMOND PERRIER asked women of faith about Fratelli Tutti

29 FR RON ROLHEISER OMI Do dogs go to heaven?

32 PRAY WITH THE POPE Fr Chris Chatteris SJ on the pope’s prayer intention

33 PRAYER CORNER Illustrated prayers: To cut out and collect

34 Trivia Quiz, Crossword, Word Search 36 History in Colour, Church Chuckle 4

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The first-ever Nativity scene

Cover image: The Nativity (1529/30) by Italian painter Antonio da Correggio (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden)

55 Years Ago: December 8, 1965

FROM OUR VAULTS Vatican II comes to an end

As the Second Vatican Council approached its closure, Pope Paul VI and the 2 300 council bishops took part in a unity service with non-Catholic Christian observers in Rome’s basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls to pray for Christian unity. The three-year-long council closed on December 8 with a final ceremony in St Peter’s Square.

Catholic paper censored

Rhodesia’s government has censored an editorial in the Catholic Moto newspaper which was critical of the whites-only government’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence. The censored editorial said that the declaration denied “the very essence of Christian teaching: that all men are created equal and endowed by the Creator with human dignity”. And this very issue of The Southern Cross would be banned in Rhodesia for reporting on it.

Three new Oblate priests

Three Oblates who studied in Rome will become priests this month: Br Gerard Lodi will be ordained in Pretoria by Archbishop John Garner, while Brs Cletus Mvemve and Benedict Mthanti will be ordained at Maria Ratschitz by Archbishop Denis Hurley of Durban.

Editorial: Now we implement

In his editorial, Fr Louis Stubbs notes that, as the Second Vatican Council has concluded, “it is now that throughout the whole Church, the work of implementing [its] directions…must become more and more effectively done”.

What else made news in December 1965: • Britain’s Prime Minister Harold Wilson imposed an oil embargo on Rhodesia on December 17, five weeks after its Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Petrol rationing was introduced on December 27.

• The United Nations’ children’s fund, UNICEF, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

• The Beatles released their sixth album, titled Rubber Soul, and the film Doctor Zhivago, starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie, had its première.

Left: In 1965, interior painting is done by stylish moms.

Right: Fr Theo Carrington OMI instructs children from the Hardy and Cartwright families on the tradition of the Advent wreath in the church of St Joseph & St Brendan on The Bluff in Durban.

The Southern Cross

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Who were the first black bishops?

Q. Can you tell me: Who was the first black bishop in the world and in SA?

T

HE FIRST BLACK BISHOP GOES back to the times of the early Church, when Christianity was active and influential in northern Africa and even as far south as Ethiopia, which was evangelised by the Apostle Matthias and adopted Christianity as its official religion in the early 4th century — long before the evangelisation of much of Europe. So the first black bishop probably is unrecorded.

Pope Victor I, who became the Bishop of Rome in around AD 189, was an African, probably from present-day Libya. He is said to have been a Berber (as was St Augustine), and they were black.

An interesting story is that of the United States’ first black bishop: James Augustine Healy of Portland, Maine, in 1875. The son of a slave, he had been ordained to the priesthood in 1854 — before the abolition of slavery, and thus also was the United States’ first black priest.

South Africa received its first black bishop on April 26, 1954, some 56 years after the ordination of the

country’s first black priest. Bishop Pius Bonaventura Dlamini FFJ first headed the newly-created diocese of Umzimkulu in KwaZulu-Natal. In that position, he attended three sessions of the Second Vatican Council.

In 1967 Bishop Dlamini, a descendant of Chief Namagaga born at Mariathal in 1908 and ordained in 1937, was appointed auxiliary bishop of the bigger diocese of Mariannhill, serving in that position until his death on September 13, 1981.

The diocese of Umzimkulu would remain vacant until the appointment of Bishop Gerard Ndlovu in 1986. For a while it was administrated by Bishop Peter Fanyana Butelezi OMI, who would go on to become South Africa’s first black archbishop.

Bishop Dlamini and Archbishop Butelezi

Your Question s answere d

Do you h

ave quest ions abo Send them ut our fa ith? with your name an d location to: editor@ scross.co .za Subject lin e: Q&A

Born in 1930 and ordained a priest of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1957, Butelezi was appointed auxiliary bishop of Johannesburg in 1972 before he was named bishop of Umtata (now Mthatha) in 1975. Three years later, on April 27, 1978, he was appointed archbishop of Bloemfontein. He died in office at the age of 66 on June 10, 1997.

The second black archbishop in South Africa was Archbishop Stephen Naidoo, a Redemptorist who succeeded Cardinal Owen McCann in Cape Town in 1984. He died at only 51 on July 1, 1989, and was succeeded a year later by his auxiliary, Archbishop Lawrence Henry, who thus became South Africa’s third black archbishop. He died at 80 in 2014.

(Günther Simmermacher)

Can non-believers go to heaven?

Q. Our faith urges us to love and serve God and our neighbour in the hope of the reward of eternal life in the heavenly kingdom. What about those who have no faith or are indifferent to religion? Will they get some heavenly reward if they live a virtuous life?

W

E CAN IDENTIFY THREE KINDS OF people around us who don’t show interest in faith in God. Firstly, those who are aware of God but are ignorant of how to know and love him, for example, in 1 Timothy 1:13.

Secondly, there are those who are simply not interested in God or religion as a result of the secularisation of society. Thirdly, there are those who deliberately reject faith in God and religion.

The reward of heavenly happiness is what Christ’s life and death has won for all who

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sincerely seek God. Vatican II teaches that those who don’t know Christ but want to do the divine will through the dictates of their conscience can win eternal salvation (Lumen gentium, 19).

So, the first group of people mentioned above can hope for salvation because their ignorance is blameless. The second group may be blameless or not depending on how

they knowingly treat others with love and respect (see Matthew 25: 31-46). The third group are culpable of willingly denying God’s free offer of eternal life, and this refusal may lead to their eternal loss.

Despite widespread indifference to faith and religion, the Church must confront secularism with the same courage as shown by her martyrs of yesterday and today. Notwithstanding scandals that have lately shaken the Church and its image, we must never be shy of showing the world what our faith means to us and the good it does for humanity. This is our Christian and missionary task.

Matthew 5:16 should jog our conscience every day: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

(Michael Shackleton)

Why may the congregation not raise hands to pray?

Q. Why is the congregation forbidden to use the “orans posture” during the Lord’s Prayer? Does the Lord really care what we do with our hands when we pray?

T

Did the pope back gay marriage?

E KNOW WHERE POPE Francis stands on the question of same-sex civil unions because he articulated his position as archbishop of Buenos Aires in 2010. It can be summed up as follows: Same-sex marriage? No, not as a sacrament and not as a social construct. That’s a Church teaching the pope is absolutely firm on.

Same-sex civil unions? Yes, as a provision in civil law to afford samesex couples legal protections which are applied to other civil unions (for instance in terms of inheritance or next-of-kin rights). The Church has no binding teaching on this either way. Some oppose these unions because they fear that they might open the door to the social and legal acceptance of “same-sex marriages”.

Even as the Church regards all sex acts outside marriage, including those by people of the same sex and even within civil unions, as morally illicit, the pope calls on us not to exclude our gay children, nephews, nieces, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, parents, neighbours or colleagues.

our gestures. For communal liturgical prayer, it is important that we do things as one body, and that our prayer be embodied. During the Lord’s Prayer, when the congregation is addressing God as one, I don’t see any problem having the laity open their hands. I think this is much more profound, and much less disruptive, than having everyone join hands right across the aisle of the church.

(Fr Thomas Plastow SJ)

Congratulations to the new-look Southern Cross, and Best Wishes for a Blessed Christmas and a Happy 2021 to all readers, from the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office.

We look forward to working with SA’s Catholic monthly magazine for many years to come.

Visit www.cplo.org.za

Q. The media reports on what Pope Francis said in the documentary Francesco about same-sex unions have been confusing. Can you give some clarity?

W

Women pray in the “orans posture” at Mass in Baghdad, Iraq, in October.

Photo: Teba Sadiq/Reuters/CNS

HE “ORANS POSTURE” MEANS TO pray with your arms open and your palms held upwards. We are used to seeing priests adopt this posture when leading public prayers. In recent years there has been some dispute about whether the laity may also pray in this manner, especially when we recite the Our Father together at Mass.

There are different interpretations of the “orans posture”. Some say that when the priest stretches out his arms, he is praying on behalf of the people.

This then becomes a clerical gesture which is denied to the laity. Others understand that this was usual among the early Christians, especially when

praying out loud. Church art has many examples of laity praying in this manner.

As Christian liturgy is absorbed by various cultures around the world, local authorities are adopting different postures and gestures that speak to their people. African-American Catholics were among the first to encourage the congregation to gesture with their arms and hands at certain points. This was introduced into some South African parishes, but is not included among the innovations set out in the bishops’ document “Pastoral Introduction to the Order of Mass”. There is room for future development in this area.

As to whether the Lord cares, who can claim to know the mind of God? Jesus says we should worship in sincerity and truth, but does not prescribe

K

The news goes on!

eep up with Catholic news from SA and the world on The Southern Cross’ website!

Visit www.scross.co.za

To all my brother clergy and sister religious and the poor missions of Southern Africa

Prayerful, Joyful, Good Wishes to all Missions South Africa for a Magnificent and Most Blessed Christmas

Never was there such a Son, Never was there such a Mother

With much love, Father Ralph de Hahn

The Southern Cross

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The sodalities of charity Fr S’milo Mngadi continues his overview of SA’s sodalities

T

HE CHURCH’S MINISTRY IS like a vehicle with four wheels. They are liturgy/ worship, preaching/kerygma, teaching/catechesis and service/witness. The last, also called the diakonia, reaches more people outside the Church through its expression of God’s unconditional love. It also affirms that we are truly Christ’s disciples (John 13:35).

A significant part of this ministry is works of charity. It was so significant in the early Church that it gave birth to the first apostolic structural innovation, namely, the diaconate (Acts 6:1-7). The care of the anawim Yahweh, or poor of God — especially widows, orphans and foreigners — was at the very centre of the life of the early Church (1 Timothy 5:3-16; James 1:27; Hebrews 13:2). Together with other commands of Christ, especially in Matthew 25:31-46, these were theologically developed into “the seven corporal works of mercy”.

Besides religious orders, a great number of lay people are dedicating themselves to this important ministry. Some do it individually, others do it as part of or as an appendix to their sodalities’ specific apostolate.

Others remain merely parish-based (not affiliated anywhere beyond) in order to avoid subscription fees and organisational bureaucracy. Their work stretches far and wide, bringing the solace of Christ to many who are in difficulties, spiritual or material.

Meet the SVP

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Others, however, have formed themselves to be groups fundamentally for this particular apostolate of charity. Primary among these, in our country, is the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP), founded in 1833 in Paris, France. Its work is well encapsulated in this statement from the local SVP’s website: “alleviating the worst human suffering in areas of abject poverty — the hungry, the homeless, the sick, vulnerable children and destitute aged” (see www.ssvp.org.za).

The SVP is highly-structured, with a national council and local The Southern Cross

conferences, and it is registered with an NPO number and an online, taxdeductible donation facility. But beyond the bureaucratic infrastructure, the SVP stresses that its work of charity emerges from members’ faith and is an expression of that faith. They call it “the Vincentian Way”, after the great French saint St Vincent de Paul (1581-1660). In the words of SVP founder Bl Frederic Ozanam: “We must do what Jesus did… let us go to the poor.”

CWL’s charism

Another group that has been deeply involved in the work of charity is the Catholic Women’s League (CWL). The acronym CWL doesn’t just abbreviate the sodality’s name but also serves as a rendition of its motto: “Charity, Work, Loyalty”.

Though it does many other things, works of charity are at the core of the CWL’s ministry.

However, with the CWL’s expansion into black parishes, certain new challenges have arisen. Some black members want the CWL to be “like other sodalities”, with things like uniforms, parish support as a group, gifts for parish priests, and so on.

The SACBC has invited all groups involved in works of charity to come under the umbrella of Caritas. Caritas Internationalis has been the official charity arm of the Catholic Church since 1954. Its motto is “Ending Poverty, Promoting Justice and Restoring Dignity”.

Caritas was started in 1897 by Lorenz Werthmann in Germany and “internationalised” in Italy by Archbishop Giovanni Battista Montini, the future Pope St Paul VI. Some groups have raised concerns about their autonomy and legacy vanishing in this “amalgamation”. It is hoped that the Trinitarian unity model becomes the guide, because a house divided against itself cannot stand (Mark 3:25) and that the least must not be neglected (Matthew 25:45) in the formation of a mega-structure.

n Fr Mngadi is a priest of the diocese of Mariannhill. He is looking at different types of sodalities over several editions of The Southern Cross.

JERUSALEM

By Hannah Brockhouse

T

HE NEW PATRIARCH OF Jerusalem has plenty of experience in that position. Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, a former Franciscan custodian of the Holy Land, had concluded his four-year mandate as apostolic administrator of the Latin patriarchate of Jerusalem when Pope Francis named him its new patriarch in late October.

The Italian has lived in the Middle East since 1990, shortly after his priestly ordination. “The Holy Land changed my life. My life of faith also,” the 55-yearold recently told EWTN News in Rome.

“I arrived there 30 years ago. I didn’t know the languages. I came from a very, very Catholic context and I was suddenly in a context where [Christians] were just 1% of the population,” he said.

“But early on I understood that in this quagmire of religions and political tensions, you can find men and women of faith who can help you to really live your faith in a new way through the holy places, the Scriptures, and [people] of faith,” he said.

The Latin patriarchate of Jerusalem is the see of the Latin Church of the Holy Land, serving Palestine, Israel, Jordan and Cyprus. Its head is one of only four patriarchs in the Latin rite of the Catholic Church, along with those of Venice, Lisbon and the East Indies (based in Goa, India). The patriarch’s seat is in Jerusalem’s co-cathedral of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in the Latin Quarter of the Old City, but the official cathedral is the church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Born in Italy

Patriarch-elect Pizzaballa was born in Cologno al Serio near Bergamo, northern Italy, on April 21, 1965. He joined the Franciscans in 1984, making his solemn profession five years later. He was ordained to the priesthood on September 15, 1990. A month later, he moved to the Holy Land to study biblical theology at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem. Besides Italian, Pizzaballa speaks Arabic, Hebrew and English.

About the path before him, Pizza-

balla said: “For 30 years, for most of my life, I lived in the Holy Land, so I am part of the Holy Land and I continue to be part of it.”

He said that Christians in the Holy Land are suffering from the coronavirus pandemic, noting that Jerusalem had already experienced two separate lockdowns. “It was very difficult, not only because of the health situation of many families but also the economic situation.

The consequences of the lockdown are that thousands of families, especially Christian families, now are without jobs, without work.”

Pilgrimages to the holy sites are a major source of income for Palestinian Christians, but with borders currently closed, pilgrimages are not possible, making it “a very, very difficult situation for hundreds of families in the Bethlehem area especially, in the Nazareth area, and in Jordan, of course”.

Poverty is growing for Christians in the occupied West Bank — in places such as Bethlehem, Bethany and Jericho — who face the same problems as most people due to the pandemic, but with the added problem of being unable to enter Israel for work.

After long-standing conflicts in the wider region, such as in Syria and Iraq, as well as instability and disaster in Lebanon, poverty in Jordan, and the political situation between Israel and Palestine, one can feel that the people of the Holy Land are frustrated, Pizzaballa said.

“All these aspects are not new, because we are seeing this situation for years, [but they] create a lot of frustration and a lot of temptations [for Palestinian Christians] to leave, to find their future somewhere else. We try to insist to the population [that] they have to remain, that they have a vocation to remain. But when they have children and a family, it is difficult to convince them.”

Fixing the finances

The Franciscan followed Patriarch Fouad Twal in the patriarchate of Jerusalem. In 2016, the Latin Patriarchate was facing grave financial difficulties and teetering on bankruptcy from debts amounting to more than $100 million. “They have been four difficult

Photo: Ammar Awad, Reuters/CNS

The new Patriarch of

IN FOCUS THIS MONTH

Patriarch-elect Pierbattista Pizzaballa leads a prayer service on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on Holy Thursday.

years,” Pizzaballa said. “I had a very clear mandate: first to put order in the administration.” As apostolic administrator, the archbishop reorganised the patriarchate’s financial management, put in place new internal and external controls, and created more transparency. He was able to pay the debt with help from international donations, by cutting expenses, and with some property sales in Nazareth.—CNA

Pilgrimages for 2021 • May: Lourdes, Rome, Assisi, Loreto, Medjugorje, Croatia Led by Fr Keith Gordon-Davis • June: Medjugorje, Rome, Assisi, Loreto, Split & Dubrovnik Led by Archbishop Stephen Brislin • September: Camino Santiago De Compostela (Camino Primitivo Route) Led by Fr Chris Townsend • August: Holy Land & Turkey Led by Archbishop William Slattery OFM • October: Sacred Heart Pilgrimage to Lourdes, Paris & Paray-Le-Monial Led by Fr Lawrence Mduduzi Ndlovu Contact Gail at 076 352 3809 or info@fowlertours.co.za

www.fowlertours.co.za

The Southern Cross

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SOUTHERN CROSS INterview

Woman in charge at the saCBC

At the end of December, Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS will end a tenure of nine years as the SACBC’s secretary-general.

She spoke to DALUXOLO MOLOANTOA.

W

HEN SR HERMENEGILD MAKORO CLOSES the doors to her office in Khanya House, the Pretoria headquarters of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, for the last time at the end of December, the Precious Blood Sister will conclude 15 years of service in the general-secretariat, which runs the conference’s daily affairs.

Her tenures, first as associate (or deputy) secretary-general and then secretary-general, were historic in the local Church. When she was appointed to the former position in 2005, Sr Hermenegild was only the second woman and the first black woman to occupy that role. And when she became secretary-general in 2011, she was the first woman ever to occupy that role.

Her successor, Dominican Sister Tshifhiwa Munzhedzi, will be the SACBC’s second woman “sec-gen”, but Sr Hermenegild believes much credit is due to the first woman in the secretariat: Holy Family Sister Brigid Flanagan, who served as associate secretary-general during the turbulent days of the struggle in the 1980s.

“In spite of her acting as the secretary-general when [secretary-general] Fr Smangaliso Mkhatshwa was in and out of political detention, she was never given the title of secretary-general — but she held the bishops’ conference together. I salute her for laying the foundation,” Sr Hermenegild noted. “For me, this was already the beginning of the shift in thinking among our bishops, recognising the abilities in Sr Brigid that a woman could hold a high position in the Church. With my appointment as secretary-general in 2011, this thinking came to fruition.”

It was a long journey to that point. Born on December 7, 1951, near Mount Fletcher in the Eastern Cape, she was the second of four children and the only daughter. Her childhood was happy. “I had a wonderful time as a young person with my three brothers. We were a very happy Christian family. We prayed and sang together. My parents were not highly educated, but they loved education. We had a very good school, and you will be surprised to learn that the woman who taught me from Sub A to Standard 2 is still alive.”

A shy child, she was “not very active in church activities, as I kept to myself too much. I enjoyed the company of my mother most, but I was a member of the church choir”.

She also kept a respectful distance from the nuns at her parish. “I was always impressed by the work of the Sisters in

my parish, although I always kept at a distance as I never wanted to mix with them. I found them too strict and I avoided them. But I liked them from a distance.”

The Makoro family prayed for vocations every day — and then the call from God came to their daughter. “When the spark of becoming a nun came to me, it was not difficult as I had support from both my parents and grandparents.

When I asked to join the religious life, my father was mostly concerned about me going without my matric. This was just a concern that every parent has about the future of their child. My aunt, who was also a nun, also thought that I should complete my matric first. Of course, she also directed me to other congregations, but I was sure that I wanted to join the Precious Blood Sisters.”

Always a teacher

Having become a Precious Blood Sister in Mthatha in 1976, Sr Hermenegild pursued a life in teaching, starting at Mariazell High School. “I am a teacher,” she said. “Indeed, it’s a vocation. I love it. I have many former pupils whom I taught who went for teaching because of how I was before them as teacher. Some were disappointed that I left teaching in the classroom. But I told them, I will always be a teacher.” For Sr Hermenegild, it was a cause of great joy to see young people in her classes “opening their eyes to become a better person”.

The holder of a theology degree from the University of Natal and an education degree from the University of Transkei, she also served as coordinator of Mthatha’s diocesan

‘This is our Church, and we are the Church!’

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Sr Hermenegild Makoro addresses Pope Francis during a meeting of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of MiPhotos: L’Osservatore Romano; Paul Haring/CNS nors in 2017.

catechetical team, coordinator of the diocese’s leadership training programme, and as Sr Hermenegild provincial superior of the PreMakoro CPS served cious Blood Sisters. for 15 years in the And so, in 2005, she was general secretariat of appointed associate secretarythe bishops’ confergeneral to Fr Vincent Brennan ence. The SACBC’s first-ever woman SMA at Khanya House. She resecretary-general will gards as her biggest achievebe succeeded in the ment “that the bishops new year by another believed in me to keep me for woman, Sr Tshifhiwa nine years as secretary-general.

Munzhedzi OP. This is an achievement not just for me personally but for the women in the Catholic Church in our region: that if women are given the chance, they can do it!”

Another accomplishment was the completion of the SACBC’s new Pastoral Plan, “Evangelising Community: Serving God, Humanity and Creation”, which was launched in January this year. “It now needs to be implemented,” Sr Hermenegild emphasised.

A personal highlight was finding “the new beautiful premises” for the SACBC’s headquarters. The move from the cold, dark building in Pretoria’s Kruger Street to the quiet and light premises at the old Santa Sophia complex, adjoining St John Vianney Seminary in Waterkloof, took place last year.

Meeting with the president

the hungry and migrants and refugees. An amount of more than R2 million went to the different dioceses for relief. Our Justice & Peace Commission, with UN Women, distributed food parcels and PPEs to a number of dioceses.”

As churches were closed, virtual Masses, reflections and sermons were offered, she noted. “Many of our people lived on that. We have seen that in many instances there was creativity on the side of the bishops and their priests,” she said.

“Maybe more could have been done to meet the needs of our communities. Many people needed the support of the Church especially when they lost their loved ones. Unfortunately, Covid-19 didn’t give us notice.”

Her time at the SACBC left Sr Hermenegild with little time for leisure pursuits. “I never stop working. I always find something to do. Otherwise I read as I need to update myself with all that is coming out of the Vatican and happenings in the country.” Once her desk is cleared, Sr Hermenegild hopes to go on a sabbatical abroad — if the pandemic allows her to travel — “and renew myself, so that I am ready for my congregation to send me where I am needed and can make a contribution”.

And her hopes for the future of the Church? “We are the Church; let us own it. I am looking forward to a living Church, where the youth take up their role as the Church of today, a Church that cares and becomes a safe haven for all.

The mission of the Church continues, so let us all play our role in building the Church. This is our Church and we are the Church!” n Read our interview with incoming secretary-general Sr Tshifhiwa Munzhedzi OP at bit.ly/2TKh0fX

As secretary-general, Sr Hermenegild was part of many meetings involving the bishops. Meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa was particularly memorable. “It was a great experience for me to sit roundtable with the president of the country. He sat and listened to our bishops when they made an input to him and challenged him about the things they see, as the leaders of the Church. I hope these meetings have also opened a door for our bishops to exercise their prophetic role.”

Sr Hermenegild’s reputation extends beyond Southern Africa. In 2014, Pope Francis appointed her to serve on the newly-established Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, reappointing her to a second term in 2018. She has been outspoken on the subject. In an interview with Spotlight.Africa last year, she stressed that policies and protocols alone “won’t help us” deal with sexual abuse in the Church, saying that the scandal “has penetrated the heart of the Church”. She told The Southern Cross: “A church is meant to be a safe place. Being a member of the commission, I hope to see that one day our Church will indeed be that safe haven for our young people.”

She noted that the pontifical commission has three main focus areas: working with survivors; education and formation; and safeguarding guidelines and norms. She serves on the education and formation portfolio. “We do awarenessraising, what to do and what not to do,” Sr Hermenegild said, adding emphatically: “What needs to be done, of course, is to prevent abuse taking place in our Church.” Abuse, she said, “causes life-long damage and destruction in the abused person”. Rather than focusing just on statistics, the hurt that abuse causes is what needs to be highlighted. “It is painful,” she added.

Sr Hermenegild’s final year as secretary-general was, obviously, overshadowed by the Covid-19 pandemic. She believes the local Catholic Church “has done well as a response with emergency relief. Caritas SA, dioceses, religious communities, different Catholic organisations in parishes and individuals have done very well in providing food parcels to

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11 9:40 AM

Everything you need to know about Advent

JD FLyNN answers questions about Advent

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DVENT STARTS THIS YEAR on Sunday, November 29.

Most Catholics, even those who don’t often go to Mass, know that Advent involves a wreath with some candles, possibly a “calendar” of hidden chocolates, and untangling strings of Christmas lights.

But Advent is more than that.

Here are a few points that might help you have a great Advent:

enter more deeply in our lives, and to renew our desire for Christ’s triumphant second coming into the world.

Advent is the time in which we prepare for Christmas, the memorial of Jesus Christ being born into the world.

Preparations are practical, like decorating a tree or stringing lights, but they

What is Advent?

The people of Israel waited generations for the promised Messiah to arrive. Their poetry, songs and stories, and their religious worship focused on an awaited saviour who, as God had repeatedly promised, would come to them to set them free from captivity, and to lead them to the fulfilment of all that God had chosen for them.

John the Baptist, who came before Jesus, promised that the Messiah was coming, and would be found in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”.

Advent is a season in the Church’s life intended to renew the experience of waiting and longing for the Messiah. Though Christ has already come into the world, the Church invites us to renew our desire for the Lord to

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So, it’s four weeks long?

Advent is a slightly different length each year. It starts four Sundays before Christmas. But because Christmas is on a fixed date and falls on different days of the week, Advent can be as short as three weeks and a day, or as long as four weeks. Christmas is on a Friday in 2020, so Advent will be three weeks and four days long.

My priest calls Advent the ‘new year’. But Advent is before Christmas!

are also intended to be spiritual.

During Advent, we are invited to enter more frequently into silence, into prayer and reflection, into Scripture, and into the sacramental life of the Church, all to prepare for celebrating Christmas.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the goal of Advent is to make present for ourselves and our families the “ancient expectancy of the Messiah...by sharing in the long prepa-

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ration for the Saviour’s first coming”.

The Church’s feasts and celebrations run on a year-long cycle, which we call the “liturgical year”.

The “liturgical year” starts on the first Sunday of Advent. So it is a new liturgical year when Advent starts.

But the Church also uses the ordinary calendar, so it would probably be a bit weird to have a “New Year’s Eve” party the night before Advent starts.

Still, Catholicism has a lot of strange feasts, so if you do have a “New Liturgical Year’s Eve” party, please invite us!

Aren’t Advent wreaths pagan?

The Catholic Church has been using Advent wreaths since the Middle Ages.

Lighting candles as we prepare for

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When should we put up our Christmas tree?

Christmas reminds us that Christ is the light of the world. And the evergreen boughs remind us of new and eternal life in Christ, the eternal son of the Father.

It is certainly true that Germanic people were lighting candle wreaths in wintertime long before the Gospel arrived in their homeland. They did so because, well, candle wreaths in winter are beautiful and warm. That a Christian symbol emerged from that tradition is an indication that the Gospel can be expressed through the language, customs, and symbols of cultures that come to believe that Christ Jesus is Lord.

The three purple candles are sometimes said to represent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, the three spiritual disciplines that are key to a fruitful Advent.

When exactly to put up the tree is a decision that families should make on their own. But it is a timehonoured tradition to argue about that.

Some people put up their tree and decorate it on the first Sunday of Advent, to make a big transformation in their homes and get them into “preparing for Christmas mode�. That’s cool.

Some people put up the tree on the first Sunday of Advent, put on lights the next Sunday, ornaments the next, and decorate it more and more as they get closer to Christmas. That’s cool.

Some people put up the tree on Gaudete Sunday, as a kind of rejoicing, and decorate it in the weeks between Gaudete and Christmas. That’s cool.

As you can tell, I’m not prepared to take sides in this argument!

Wrong? No, not immoral or anything. Liturgically inappropriate? Totally. Plus, there are a lot of great Advent hymns and songs: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel�, “Come Thou LongExpected Jesus�, “O Come Divine Messiah�, “Come Thou Fount�, “Hark! A Thrilling Voice is Sounding�...

Wouldn’t you rather sing those than “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer�?

Oh right —I forgot to mention that. Advent comes from the Latin words ad and venire, which mean, essentially, “to come to�, or “to come toward.� Ad+venire is the root of the Latin adventus, which means “arrival�.

So Advent is the season of arrival: the arrival of Christ in our hearts, in the world, and into God’s extraordinary plan for our salvation.—CNA

Why is one candle pink?

In some regions, red candles are used, but in most countries there are three purple candles on the Advent wreath. Those are lit on the first, second and fourth Sundays of Advent.

The pink candle is lit on the third Sunday of Advent, which we call Gaudete Sunday. On that Sunday, in addition to the pink candle, the priest wears a pink vestment, which he might refer to as rose. But rose, from this writer’s perspective, is a shade of pink.

Gaudete is a word that means “Rejoice!�, and we rejoice on Gaudete Sunday because we are halfway through Advent. In some countries, people have the custom of throwing “Gaudete� parties, and this is also traditionally the day on which Christmas carollers begin carolling door-to-door.

Is it wrong to sing Christmas songs during Advent?

And what does the word ‘Advent’ actually mean?

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The Christmas I missed mass One Christmas in Sudan taught LEVINIA PIENAAR a lesson many of us learnt this year: Don’t take the Mass for granted.

O

UR INABILITY TO ATTEND Mass in person for much of this year reminds me of the year I lived in Sudan in 200809 and could attend Mass only irregularly. I will never forget how I cried at not being able to attend Mass one year, when I was working as a UN peacekeeper in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur.

It is amazing how we miss the things we take for granted when we do not have access to them anymore.

For me it was NikNaks and bread with peanut butter. But the hardest of all was not being able to attend Mass in communion with other Catholics.

We lived in a refugee camp surrounded and protected by soldiers, and whenever we went outside to patrol or buy basic fruits and vegetables, we were escorted by Nigerian soldiers who protected our camp. I found out much later that Mass was periodically celebrated among these soldiers.

In Muslim countries, such as Sudan, the weekend is on Friday and Saturday, so Sunday is a normal working day. On one such Sunday, the commander of the soldiers asked that we start our daily patrols one hour later.

When I found out that there was a church service in the eating space, I

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asked my commander if I could attend.

I had heard about Protestant worship and prayers in the camp and had even attended a few myself, so it wasn’t that strange for me to go.

When I entered the space on that Sunday, my heart skipped a beat — I was home. Just to be sure, I asked the soldier sitting right at the back if this

Immediately I knew that I had missed Mass really was a Catholic Mass. He said it was. I can’t remember much about that Mass because I cried most of the time — tears of pure joy.

No public Mass allowed

Perhaps I need to give a little more context to explain how special this moment was. At the time, the south of Sudan was predominantly Christian because all the Muslims lived in the North. When South Sudan became independent in 2011, Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir wanted his country to be Muslim only. This meant that any form of Christian worship had to happen privately because it was not safe to do so publically.

After attending Mass for the first

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time, I was told I would be informed when there would be future Masses on Sundays, and if it was safe to do so.

As Christmas drew near, I asked the priest (who came from a nearby parish) if there would be a Midnight or Christmas Mass. He said yes. When I asked around at the camp, people said that there would first be a Protestant communal worship, and that the Catholics would stay on for Mass.

On Christmas Eve, I attended praise and worship, waiting for Mass to start. One hour became two, then three, and I felt a strong yearning for Mass. Just after midnight I saw a soldier I knew coming in with other soldiers and their chaplain who celebrated Communion services every now and then. Immediately I knew that I had missed Mass. I was heartsore and started crying.

Even though I was with other sisters and brothers for over three hours praising, singing and praying, I felt a deep need for the Mass.

The soldiers explained that they had celebrated Mass at a venue that was for soldiers only, because they had received permission for the priest to enter camp very late, and there was just no time to waste when he arrived.

I remember thinking back to my “normal” life where I had access to daily Mass and didn’t appreciate it. The longing to attend Mass that day will stay with me for as long as I live.

Lockdown 2020, with all the restrictions, reminds me of my years in Darfur. The things we took for granted are suddenly not available. And this forces us to ask ourselves: What is really important to us? What has the “not having access” taught us this year? n Levinia Pienaar worked for the South African Police for 27 years, leaving as a captain in 2017. She has worked extensively to prevent violence against women and children, and served as a UN peacekeeper in Sudan and South Sudan. This article originally appeared on the Spotlight.Africa website.

Christmas gifts with meaning It’s the time of year when we fret about our Christmas-gift shopping. RAyANNE BENNETT suggests presents that convey God’s love for us.

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OU MAY KNOW THE SHORT story by O. Henry titled “The Gift of the Magi” in which a young couple with very little financial means figure out how to give each other a gift at Christmas. The wife cuts and sells her long, beautiful hair to buy her husband a chain for his cherished pocket watch. What she does not know is that her husband had sold his pocket watch to buy a set of ornate combs for her hair.

The story is a classic piece of comic irony — but more importantly, it highlights the moral dimension of gift-giving. I was always struck by the lesson that even when we have very little, there is always something we can give. One gift, given in love, is more than enough to show our close family and friends how much they mean to us.

“The Gift of the Magi” draws a sharp contrast with what happens in today’s culture. There is an entire infrastructure built up around gift-giving, and it grows more pervasive and lavish with each passing year. We live in a time of extensive online wish lists, when television ads suggest that we might buy a car or diamond necklace for our spouse, and on “Black Friday” an entire day is dedicated

to getting out to the shops so that we can cross off the must-haves from our gift list and put the retailers “in the black”.

Most parents or grandparents have seen children rip through a pile of presents in a frenzy, looking around for more when they reach the last box or bag. Not only have we given them more than their bedrooms can handle, but we’ve also contributed to the misunderstanding of what Christmas is supposed to be about.

It’s a vicious cycle, and not an easy one to escape. Expectations are cemented from years past, and the priorities (especially for this grandmother of 11) become avoiding the children’s disappointment and being fair to every grandchild. And there is no doubt that online gift-lists are super-convenient.

Surprising wish list

But every now and then, opportunities arise that allow us to draw a line and take a fresh and more wholesome approach to Christmas gift-giving. That is what happened in our family last year, when my then nine-year-old granddaughter Natalie made an announcement. She wanted no gifts for Christmas.

Instead, she asked her family to donate the money to several selected charities.

Natalie’s request helped some of us in the family to turn over a new “giftgiving” leaf — motivating us to select gifts that positively impact our world and the people in it. For anyone who may want to move towards more altruistic and responsible gift options, the choices are endless. Here are just a few types to consider: Experiential gifts: Several psychological studies in recent years have suggested that we derive greater happiness from our experiences, rather than our possessions. As a result, people are encouraged to spend their money on travel and other experiences, instead of new cars or the latest tech-gadgets. Applying that thinking to Christmas gifting, you might give tickets to concerts, plays or sports games (once the coronavirus restrictions are eased); or give vouchers for time spent together doing a favourite ac-

tivity (such as a weekend-away) or a necessary one (assisting with cleaning out the garage, for instance).

Eco-friendly gifts: Consider equipping the recipient with items needed for a more sustainable lifestyle, which helps us to live up to our Church’s teaching on the “care of our common home”. These might include items that result in less single-use plastic: reusable shopping bags; gift bags and gift wrapping made from cloth or other durable materials that can be used for other purposes; a utensils pack to carry in one’s handbag or car, instead of using plastic containers; reusable water bottles, and so on.

Charitable giving: Donate to an organisation that is meaningful to your recipient, or buy items sold by a charitable organisation that help to support its mission — think bracelets made from oceanreclaimed plastic, or books, mugs or T-shirts in which most of the proceeds benefit the cause. (A tip that I learned the hard way: don’t do this with children unless, like Natalie, they ask for it. I once tried this with a young family member, and I don’t think that it was entirely appreciated.)

Gifts of service: Offer your services to assist the recipient with a challenging or labour-intensive task, such as doing the shopping or laundry for busy family members; painting your grandchild’s bedroom in the colour of their choice; pet-sitting while your giftee is away on holiday, and so on.

Even if you peel off just one item from your loved one’s wish list and make it a “gift for good”, you are helping others and hopefully will inspire other family members to do the same next year.

Happy gift-giving!

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December 8 is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. MICHAEL OGUNU explains its meaning.

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UR LADY’S IMMACULATE Conception is, according to Catholic doctrine, the conception of the Virgin Mary without any stain (immacula in Latin) of original sin. The Immaculate Conception was solemnly defined as a dogma

by Pope Pius IX in his Ineffabilis Deus, issued on December 8, 1854.

The papal definition of the dogma declares with absolute certainty and authority that Mary possessed sanctifying grace from the first instant of her existence and was free from the lack of grace caused by original sin at the beginning of human history.

In order to be born into this world, Our Lord could not take flesh from any mere human being. Our Lady was prepared from all eternity to be the Mother of God through the privilege of her immaculate conception.

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception developed throughout the history of the Church. The feast of Mary’s Conception was celebrated in the Eastern Church as early as the 7th century and in the Western Church by the 11th century. There were, however, theologians, such as St Thomas Aquinas and St Bonaventure, who opposed this teaching, stating that it removes Mary from the rest of humanity as needing salvation and detracting from the universality of the redemption won for us by Christ.

Bl John Duns Scotus, a 13th century Franciscan philosopher, resolved the confusion on this matter: Mary was free from sin from the first moment of her conception in the womb of her mother, St Anne, only in anticipation of Christ’s redemptive death on the cross. The merits and graces of Jesus transcend time and space. This is how the Blessed Mother was able to partake in those merits at her conception, even though the Lord had not yet died on the cross.

Protestants and other non-Catholic Christians assert that the Virgin Mary could not have been immaculately conceived, and that if she were conceived without sin, she would not have needed

redemption as she herself had acknowledged in the Magnificat when she said: “My spirit rejoices in God my saviour” (Luke 1:47). They also maintain that in his first letter John states: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1:8). They therefore wonder how Catholics can claim that the Virgin Mary was sinless.

The Church believes that God’s Son, who was to come into the world through Mary’s consent, was himself her saviour. Mary, as a member of the human race, was in need of salvation.

However, her salvation was “singular” (unique). In order to help us understand Mary’s need for salvation, theologians

being wounded by the sin of the race in her conception. In this way, Jesus saved her from sin and the effects of sin. You and I and all humankind are liberated from the “fire” of sin and eternal death in hell through the saving grace of Our Lord Jesus.

We receive this grace in baptism, and if we fall into mortal sin, through sacramental confession. Baptism, so to speak, “pulls us out of the fire”. When we deliberately fall into the fire again through our deliberate mortal sins, the Lord rescues us through the sacrament of reconciliation. Mary, by Jesus’ grace, was preserved from ever falling into that fire.

The Catholic Church does not deny that the Virgin Mary needed redemption, for she was a child of Adam together with the rest of humanity.

However, her redemption was effected in another, “more sublime manner”, namely, “redemption by pre-emption”.

The Church finds support for the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in the words of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women” (Luke 1:28). The Angel’s words would not have been entirely truthful had the Virgin Mary, for even one instant, been deprived of grace.

The sinlessness of Mary, the Church holds, is total and without exception. Beginning with her conception — by the foreseen merits of Christ — she was preserved from the stain and effects of original sin, so that never for a moment of her earthly existence did she come under the dominion of the devil. All other human beings inherit the consequences of the sin of Adam and Eve, and come into this world separated from God until restored to his friendship through the sacrament of baptism.

Hence, as the poet Wordsworth so beautifully puts it, Mary is “our tainted nature’s solitary boast”.

I’d be your saviour if I rescued you from flames, but also if I had kept you from the flames.

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distinguish between a “liberative salvation” and a “preservative salvation”.

Every member of the human race, with the exception of Mary, was liberated from sin and eternal damnation by the Cross of Jesus. By virtue of the Cross of Jesus, Mary was preserved from sin and eternal damnation.

If I save you in a fire...

An example might be helpful in coming to understand the significance of this distinction: If I save you from being burned to death in a fire, I would liberate you from the flames and save your life. You might correctly call me your “saviour”. But would I not also be your “saviour” had I preserved you from falling into the flames in the first place?

Every member of the human race, except Mary, is wounded by the sin of Adam. We are liberated from Adam’s sin by the grace of Jesus Christ. Mary, also

by Christ’s grace, was preserved from

Photo: Paul Haring/CNS

Why Mary was born without sin

A firefighter places a wreath on a tall statue of Mary overlooking the Spanish Steps in Rome on the December 8 feast of the Immaculate Conception, an annual tradition going back to 1857.

SaintS of the Month: THE HOLY FAMILY

Joseph, Mary & Jesus Günther Simmermacher looks at the life & times of the Holy Family

T

HE BIBLE IS NOT GENEROUS with biographical detail about the Holy Family. We encounter Joseph, Mary and Jesus in the Nativity story, the Flight into Egypt, Jesus’ circumcision and presentation in the Temple, and the time Jesus is left behind in the Temple. Poor Joseph doesn’t even get a spoken word in the Gospels.

But he doesn’t need to: guided by faith — and angels — he stands by Mary, despite her peculiar pregnancy, and raises Jesus as his own.

The feast of the Holy Family is celebrated on the Sunday between Christmas and New Year’s Day. If Christmas Day is on a Sunday, the feast is celebrated on December 30. This year, it falls on December 27.

First of all, why did Joseph believe Mary’s pregnancy story?

That is perhaps the most remarkable thing about Joseph. His betrothed — the marriage seems to have been arranged — claims to have been impregnated by the Holy Spirit to bear the Messiah. If our son came home with a story like that, we’d tell him to run for the hills. And that’s Joseph’s impulse as well. But if he rejects his betrothed, her life will be over — socially or physically, for adultery is punishable by death. So he has that to consider.

An angel started this situation, and an angel resolves it by telling Joseph to take Mary as his wife because she has conceived by the Holy Spirit (Mt 1:2021). It’s not the last time Joseph receives angelic counsel. An angel would also tell him to take his family into exile in Egypt and when it was safe to go home.

Jerusalem. In fact, the church of St Anne near Lions’ Gate marks the spot of her birth in a grotto. But down the road, a Greek Orthodox chapel also claims to have the birthplace of Our Lady. This points to a strong tradition that Mary’s family lived in this part of Jerusalem.

As for years of birth, in both cases we can only guess. We don’t even know when Jesus was born, but since it was during the reign of King Herod, it was at the latest in 4 BC, the year of Herod’s death. And then we must give Herod time for the massacre of the innocents.

Let’s say, for the sake of mathematical calculation, that Jesus was born in 5 BC. It is commonly assumed that Mary was about 14 when she conceived the Lord. So her birth must have been around 19 BC. We don’t even have a good clue about how old Joseph was when he married Mary, but many scholars believe that he was substantially older than her. If we guess that Joseph was around 35 at Jesus’ birth, he would have been born around 40 BC.

How did they end up in Nazareth?

Again, we don’t know. Some scholars say that Joseph, an artisan builder, came to Nazareth to work on the reconstruction of the nearby city of Sepphoris, but that project started only after Herod’s death. However, the old city of Sepphoris and nearby Cana — then bigger than Nazareth — might have offered job opportunities.

We also don’t know what brought Mary to Nazareth. Perhaps her elderly parents, Anne and Joachim, had died and Mary came to live with relatives.

So, Joseph was a carpenter…

Well, maybe not. The Greek originals of the Gospels call him a tekton (a word that has the same root as our term “technology”), which means artisan.

Joseph was a specialist of some sort, but with wood rare in that part of Galilee, he (and later Jesus) might have worked mostly with stone and other materials, possibly including wood.

How did they live in Nazareth?

Nazareth was a village of maybe a few hundred people. It had a well (it still exists in modern Nazareth today), so water was abundant, and Joseph was a specialist artisan in his trade, so the Holy Family was probably living comfortably, neither rich nor poor. A few first-century homes have been excavated in Nazareth, including one that archaeologists believe night have been the house of the Holy Family.

Didn’t Jesus have siblings?

When Jesus tries to speak in the synagogue of Nazareth, the people ask: “This is the carpenter’s son, surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude? His sisters, too; are they not all here with us?” (Matthew 13:55-56).

For some Protestants, this is proof that Mary was not a lifelong virgin, but had other children. But some suggest, plausibly, that the six siblings were brought into the marriage by a widowed Joseph.

Continued on page 20

OK. Now, where and when were Joseph and Mary born?

Scripture gives us the whole genealogy of Joseph, except date and place of birth. It is commonly believed that Joseph was born in Bethlehem, and there is nothing to suggest an alternative location — other than his presence in Nazareth, from where he and the pregnant Mary must travel to Bethlehem for that first Christmas.

Tradition places Mary’s birth in

The dream of Joseph, the marriage of Mary and Joseph, and the death of Joseph, in St Joseph’s church in Nazareth.

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The

The Holy Family

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Photo by Kristyn Brown for The Saints Project: www.thesaintsproject.org

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Living saints: The poster image

HE “SAINT OF THE MONTH” Saints in a poster in this issue of the Holy new focus Family is a special treat: it is one of the artworks by US photographer Kristyn Brown, who stages photos of popular O saints with live models. It is reproduced here as Kristyn’s special gift to the loyal readers of The Southern Cross.

We reported about Kristyn’s work, a true apostolate that aims to deepen devotion to the saints, in our November issue. Her more than 80 portraits of “living saints” make up what she calls “The Saints Project”. These artistic portraits Our feature on Kristyn Brown and can be seen on her website her work in the November issue. (thesaintsproject.org), where high-quality prints are available for sale. ing the viewer to follow God’s call to them.

As she told us in our last issue, Kristyn’s Kristyn uses various photographic techidea is to find average people to portray the niques to help tell the stories of her saints: saints in classic poses, using modern photosome are brightly lit, others softly. Many graphic methods. This emphasises that the photos have a matt sheen that gives them saints were, in many ways, ordinary people the appearance of being classical paintings. and not idealised images on prayer cards. In “The visual intent is to create images in that way they are relatable while encouragPhotographer Kristyn Brown has created portraits of saints using ordinary people as models. GÜNTHER SIMMERMACHER interviewed the artist.

NE DAY HER MOTHER talked about a third-century martyr and, like an photograold-fashioned pher’s flash going off, Kristyn Brown had an idea.

Having spent most of her younger years “shooting terrible pictures and wasting a lot of film”, Kristyn had become a busy professional photographer — digital and no longer wasting film. By the time of that afternoon spent with her mother in Philadelphia, Kristyn had just discovered her passion for conceptual photography, an artform that uses the medium of pictures to illustrate an idea. She had the equipment and, as it turned out, the talent. All that was missing was inspiration.

“My mother was speaking to me about St Sebastian, and all I could see in my mind’s eye was a portrayal of him as a real person in a photograph,” Kristyn told The Southern Cross in an interview from Philadelphia. So in 2015, she set out to scout for a model to portray St Sebastian — and the first

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Continued from page 17

As we saw with the word tekton, translations can be deceptive.

The Greek term the Gospels use to describe the four named men is adelphos, which can be translated as both brother and kinfolk — a blurring of definitions we in Africa can readily recognise.

For scholars, the dispute is still open, but for us Catholics, it is irrevocably closed. James, Joseph, Simon, Jude and the two sisters whose names went unrecorded were not Mary’s children — they might have been half-brothers or cousins.

What kind of Jews were they?

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Mary might have come from a priestly family — her cousin Elizabeth’s husband was a Temple priest, and the Magnificat suggests a mind that draws

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of what are now more than 80 portraits of “living saints” in what she calls “The Saints Project” was created.

Her mother, Boyle, Claire whose conversation started this lifechanging and “The Solemnity of Mary” is one of a series of photos in Kristyn Brown’s collection portraying faithbuilding projOur Lady in various stages of her life. ect, would later become a model herself, portraying tensive gallery of the Holy Family, amid her namesake St Clare of Assisi. “She the saints (www.thesaints all was really surprised by the final project.org) . These saints range from image,” Kristyn recalled. “Most people are not used to seeing themselves that the Archangels Michael and Raphael to way, and it’s exciting and kind of Mary Magdalen to Maria Goretti to Padre Pio. shocking.”

The latter we encounter as a young The image of St Clare — “a woman of fierce holiness” — is one of the pho- man. St Teresa of Avila, in a striking tographer’s favourite shoots and final image, is kneeling in prayer as her gaze images. “It came out better than I had penetrates our soul. St Joan of Arc, whose photo provides the logo for The planned, and I still love it,” she said.

Saints Project, has a face speckled with Another favourite is “The Solemthe mud of the battlefield; she looks nity of Mary”, a tender depiction of the defiantly heavenwards. St Peregrine Virgin Blessed hits the road with a strong, serene face with her infant while his knee is bleeding. And St Son. “It was an Veronica, the patron saint of photog‘outtake’ image raphers, is holding the cloth on which and wasn’t supJesus’ face superimposed itself during posed to be part her act of mercy on the Via Dolorosa. of the shoot, but it’s my most popRelatable saints ular image now,” Kristyn’s idea is to find average Kristyn, said whose website people to portray the saints in classic features an ex- poses using modern photographic methods. This emphasises that the saints were, in many ways, ordinary people and not idealised images on St Clare of Assisi prayer cards. In that way they are reis portrayed by latable while encouraging the viewer the photograto follow God’s call to them, just as the pher’s mother.

generally I am inspired by a saint and then just wait for the right person to come along to portray them,” Kristyn said. Her artistic process involves a lot of prayer, even asking the saint being portrayed for their intercession, she said, happily admitting that she is not in control — the Holy Spirit is always at work.

There are signs of that.

For example, unbeknown to Kristyn, the man she chose to portray St Raphael turned out to have a devotion to…

St Raphael. Likewise, her model for St Lucy had chosen that saint for her confirmation name.

Of course, the devout St Maximilian Kolbe is shown wearing his Catholic has her favourite Franciscan habit as well as the striped jacket saints. “Without a doubt, of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp, where he my all-time favourite go-to was martyred. saint is Mary. And then St All photos courtesy of Kristyn Brown Michael, Maximilian Kolbe saints did. Importantly, she stressed, and Padre Pio,” said the photographer, her images mustn’t look “tacky”. who has received several commissions, “The process to choose saints and the highest-profile being the creation portrayers is different every time, but of a banner for the youth congress por-

Kristyn Brown

tion of the World Meeting of Families in 2015.

There are still many saints to be photographed, but her next major project — other than the big job of being a mom to her three children, aged 9, 7 and 1 — is to portray the Twelve Apostles.

• Don’t miss next issue with a “Saint of the Month” centrespread poster

by Kristyn Brown. See or buy her images at www.thesaintsproject.org/

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from theological erudition. Of course, we know that the Holy Family made pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem.

But we don’t know which Jewish tradition they belonged to. Judaism comprised several parties with very different theologies (such as the Pharisees and the Sadducees).

The late scholar Fr Bargil Pixner OSB suggested that the Holy Family were Essenes, the group we know from the Dead Sea Scrolls. And John the Baptist Jesus’ cousin, has been linked to the Essenes as well. But we see in Scripture that Jesus was close to the Pharisees, whose theology is more similar to what became Christianity than any of the other Jewish sects.

Inset photo: The Holy Family in a relief at St Joseph’s church in Nazareth.

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a style we are used to seeing in today’s world. Photo manipulation is everywhere and ‘The Saints Project’ is no different, using modern and relevant Photoshop techniques — the look of the project fits in with the world but is not of the world,” Kristyn says on her website.

Her collection includes saints such as Teresa of Avila, Maximilian Kolbe, Joan of Arc, Therese of Lisieux, Clare, Mary Magdalene, Sebastian, Elizabeth & John the Baptist, Martha, Padre Pio (as a young priest), Rita of Cascia, the archangels and many more.

One series of photos, from which this poster was selected, depicts the Holy Family in various settings. Another set, equally exquisite, is of the Mother of God on different themes, such as childhood, solemnity, sorrow and so on. n To view or buy portrait photos by Kristyn Brown, go to www.etsy.com/shop/ kristynbrownphoto#items

When did Joseph die?

We have no idea. We hear about him when young Jesus is found in the Temple, and nothing thereafter. Life expectancy in those days was much lower than it is today. If we guess Joseph was about 35 years old when Jesus was born around 6 to 4 BC, and he reached the age of 60 — then an old age — he might have died around the year 20 AD.

And when did Mary die?

Well, Catholic dogma is that Mary did not die but fell into eternal sleep before she was assumed into heaven. The Transitus Mariae, an apocryphal document which provided one basis for the belief in Mary’s bodily assumption, suggests that Mary was no older than 50 when she closed her eyes.

By that calculation, if Mary was about 14 when she gave birth to Jesus, she was born around 19 BC. If she was indeed 50 years old when she closed her eyes, then that would have been in around the year 31 AD, soon after her Son’s crucifixion. n Günther Simmermacher is the author of The Holy Land Trek: A Pilgrims’ Guide.

HOLY LAND & TURKEY PILGRIMAGE Holy Land with Jerusalem | Bethlehem | Nazareth | Sea of Galilee | Jordan River etc | TURKEy with Ephesus | Istanbul and more historic sites

led by archbishop William slattery OFm 21 august - 1 september 2021 For more information or to book, please contact Gail at info@fowlertours.co.za or phone/WhatsApp 076 352-3809

www.fowlertours.co.za/slattery

KENYA: Children in Nairobi ride on a makeshift train during Christmas celebrations.

GERMANY: Lights illuminate the Christmas market in Berlin last year.

PALESTINE: A Palestinian takes a selfie with a man dressed as Santa Claus in Manger Square outside the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.

VATICAN: Pope Francis carries a figurine of the baby Jesus at the conclusion of Christmas Mass in St Peter’s basilica at the Vatican last year.

CNS Photos (clockwise from top left): Paul Haring; Hannibal Ranschke/Reuters; Njeri Mwangi/Reuters; Adriano Machado/ Reuters; Debbie Hill

BRAZIL: A Nativity display in front of the presidential palace in the capital city of Brasilia.

Christmas Around The World PAKISTAN: A man holds a crucifix necklace for sale at a vendor’s stand set up for Christmas celebrations outside the Anglican cathedral of St John in Peshawar.

MEXICO: A man dressed as Santa Claus carries a migrant child near the Paso del Norte border-crossing bridge to the United States in Ciudad Juarez.

NICARAGUA: Vivian Pellas, president of the Association for Burned Children of Nicaragua, gives presents to children during the annual Christmas celebration in Managua.

All photos Reuters/CNS (from left): Oswaldo Rivas; Fayaz Aziz; Lisi Niesner; José Luis Gonzalez

Tony Wyllie & Co. Catholic Funeral Home & Staff

ENGLAND: Christmas shoppers make their way under an illuminated angel along Regent Street in London last year.

MONASTERY RETREAT HOUSE PO Box 11095, Mariannhill 3624

CHRISTMAS RETREAT 24 December 2020 (supper) to 1 January 2021 (breakfast) Preached by

wish everyone a Blessed Christmas and a prosperous New Year

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For Bookings:

Fr Kevin Mapfumo CMM Reception: 031 700 2155 Fax: 031 700 2738

Bro Crispin Graham: 083 544 1504 Email: monretreat@saol.com The Southern Cross

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How St Francis created the first Nativity scene Nativity scenes are a common Christmas decoration — and we have St Francis of Assisi to thank for that, as GüNTHER SIMMERMACHER explains.

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HRISTMAS DECORATIONS ARE INCOMPLETE without a Nativity scene, depicting Mary and Joseph in the stable with the baby Jesus in a manger surrounded by assorted animals, and with the optional extras of the Magi, shepherds, singing angels and other culturally appropriate innovations.

Nativity scenes confirm the Christmas narrative which we have become used to and cherish. It doesn’t matter that they are historically inaccurate: the Scriptures don’t say that there were animals present at Jesus’ birth; hark, the angels did not sing; the stable was a cave and not an open-sided wooden structure; and by the time the magi came with their gifts, the shepherds had long departed. But none of that will change the popular portrayal of the Saviour’s natal setting.

We have St Francis of Assisi to thank for the Nativity scenes we love so much today. After he left Assisi, Francis di Bernardone lived for several years in the Rieti Valley in Italy’s Lazio region, about 100km south of his hometown. There he wrote the definitive Rule for his still young order, as well as his “Canticle of All Creatures”. In and around a village called Greccio he built several houses and churches.

In 1223 he turned his mind to the celebration of Christmas, picking up on an idea he had while trying to visit the Holy Land four years earlier. Even in the early 13th century, the accent at Christmas was on partying and exchanging of gifts. Francis’ vision was to put Christ back into Christmas, in the words of the modern motto.

St Francis was also concerned about whether the faithful understood the Nativity narrative, calculating that it must have been very difficult for people of little education to form

A recreation of the Mass at the first Nativity scene in Greccio, displayed at the basilica of St Mary of the Angels in Assisi.

Photo: Günther Simmermacher

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a picture of the birth of the Saviour when their only access to catechesis was the Mass, celebrated in a language, Latin, which they neither spoke nor understood.

In the Middle Ages much catechesis was done through graphic illustrations. Stained-glass church windows, paintings, frescoes, sculptures, reliefs, carvings on church doors and so on, often told a story which illiterate people could understand; these artforms were the popular “books” of the time. Bringing alive the extraordinary scene of Jesus’ birth, Francis predicted, would inspire devotion among those who viewed it.

Catechism by images

An innovative thinker, Francis took it a step further. He decided to tell the Nativity story, familiar to him through paintings (of the kind we might regard as primitive, since they preceded even the trailblazing artist Giotto), by setting up a tableau vivant, a living picture, of the Nativity.

He obtained the approval of Pope Honorius III, who was enthusiastic about the idea and granted indulgences to all who would be involved in creating the scene. Next Francis, who was suffering ill health, roped in his close friend, the knight John Velita, to organise all that was needed, including straw, animals and even an infant. So Velita and Francis created the first crèche, with actual human beings and animals in a cave in the woods near Greccio.

On Christmas Eve, burning torches illuminated the woods through which echoed the voices of a chorus of friars and townfolk singing pious hymns. An altar had been erected above the manger on which Midnight Mass was celebrated, with Francis serving as deacon and preaching a stirring sermon. St Bonaventure (1221-74), the Franciscan minister-general, reported that Francis “stood before the manger, full of devotion and piety, bathed in tears and radiant with joy”. After the Mass, Bonaventure wrote, Francis lifted the most beautiful baby from the manger. The straw on which the infant had slept later “miraculously cured all diseases of cattle, and many other pestilences”.

Incidentally, around the same time St Francis also wrote what is considered the very first Christmas carol, “Psalmus in Nativitate”, a hymn that could be sung outside the liturgy — for example at Nativity scenes. The idea caught on quickly and spread throughout Europe.

The place where this first Nativity was staged is now a small chapel in the Franciscan sanctuary of Greccio, known as “the Franciscan Bethlehem”. Over the years, The Southern Cross has taken many pilgrims to that place.

The Greccio celebration caused something of a sensation. Within a century, every church in Italy had a crèche, with figurines and statues gradually replacing human beings and livestock. Human nature being as it is, churches and

Photos: Günther Simmermacher; Debbie Hill/CNS; Vatican Media

A Palestinian carves an olive wood statue of Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus in a workshop near the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank.

A Nativity scene in the church of Our Lady of Carmen in Panama City.

wealthy sponsors of cribs began competing with one another to create the most attractive and elaborate Nativity scene. By the 16th century, whole villages began to make their living from the crib industry.

A tradition spreads

The rest of Catholic Europe noted the emerging tradition and imported it, most enthusiastically in Germany. Of course, local traditions gave the Nativity scenes parochial flavour, though not at the cost of piety. Southern German cribs would be carved in wood; in south-eastern France they were created in the santon method with small painted terracotta figurines. The santon cribs were a response to necessity: the conventional large-scale Nativity scenes were banned after the French Revolution, and the delicate figurines circumvented the prohibition while maintaining the tradition of the crib.

By the 19th century, not only churches and public places but virtually every Catholic family in Europe displayed a crèche, as did many Protestant homes (when the Puritans banned Christmas in the 17th century, they also prohibited the manger-shaped mince pies that were placed into crèches).

The 19th century was a time when many of our present Christmas traditions were formed. The Christmas tree, for example, spread from Germany to the Anglophone world, thanks largely to Queen Victoria’s German husband Albert.

Likewise, the crib became an essential part of the compendium of Western Christmas traditions. Today Nativity scenes are displayed in shopping malls alongside Santa Claus and his reindeer, sometimes purely for purposes of seasonal decoration or in response to the urging of local Christians.

The Vatican has displayed its Nativity scene since 1982.

In fact, it has two: a larger-than-life exhibit in St Peter’s Square and a smaller one in the Paul VI Audience Hall. Much thought goes into the Vatican crèche. In 2007, for example,

Pope Francis prays during a visit last year to Greccio at the spot where St Francis of Assisi assembled the first Nativity scene in 1223.

the central crib scene was flanked by a carpentry workshop — a reference to St Joseph’s profession — and by an inn, next to which a road referred to the flight into Egypt on which the Holy Family would soon embark. The Nativity in St Peter’s Square in 2018 was a sand sculpture.

Some cribs have caused scandal. In 2004, Madame Tussaud’s in London attracted much public protest, including a caustic note from the Vatican, when its Nativity scene featured footballer David Beckham as Joseph and his wife Victoria as Mary, with Tony Blair, George W Bush and the duke of Edinburgh as the Magi, actors Hugh Grant and Samuel L Jackson as well as talk-show host Graham Norton as shepherds, and singer Kylie Minogue as the angel.

This is certainly not what St Francis had in mind when he set up that first Nativity scene 797 years ago.

We wish all our friends and benefactors a very happy and Holy Christmas and every blessing in the New Year

The Holy Family in a Nativity scene made of sand in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican in 2018. Photo: Paul Haring/CNS

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mary, what did you know?

A Christmas Reflection by Fr Ralph de Hahn

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YOUNG VIRGIN HOLDS a babe in her arms. She is his mother in the flesh. He has no earthly father. He is pure gift from heaven.

Such joy, yet she wonders: “Why was I chosen — and why do I find myself with no room for this innocent, helpless baby; here, in only an animal shed?”

The visitors are not the high priest and the major, as one might think would befit the Son of God, but rugged shepherds from the hills. The town is overcrowded and noisy, and there is only the starry heaven as her roof — yet a strange light and peace fills the air.

Mary gazes into the infant’s open eyes. He already recognises his mother. Does she know what he knows — that she was immaculately conceived, just as he was?

Does she know that Joseph, the man to whom she is espoused, is chosen by God himself as her virginal protector? Does Mary know she is kissing the face of God? Nobody knows the story of God becoming man, because God never had become man before!

The story of the Incarnation is already written by God, but for Mary it is still a mystery. How will this child’s life turn out?

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little later, at the Presentation in the Temple, the ancient Simeon will enlighten the mother that her child will be a sign of contradiction. And, alarmingly, he’ll predict that her soul shall be pierced with a deep swords (Lk 2:35). How could she know? Did Mary have an idea of

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how the ancient prophecies would be fulfilled?

“From all the beautiful maidens of Israel, why am I chosen? I cannot know the mind of the Almighty. Amen, so be it!”

Did Mary fully understand that she was the all-pure temple of the Holy Spirit, which is why the Angel Gabriel named her “Full of Grace”? She knew what a singular privilege it was that she should have been chosen, but could any human mind truly comprehend the magnitude of that act to which she had consented, just nine months ago in Nazareth?

Could Mary, still a teenager, really have comprehended that she was the mother of humanity’s Redeemer, and that she herself would be called upon to be the mother of all the redeemed — and what a shattering revelation that would be? Did Mary wonder deeply in her heart about this unique child in her embrace — a child not from man but from God himself. An extraordinary gift from God for a purpose yet unknown to any person.

Did Mary know that this child, born of her flesh and blood, would one day feed the world with lifegiving food?

Mary, did you know that this child, your son, the very Son of God, has come to set the world afire with a love which the world has never known?

n Fr Ralph de Hahn is a writer and a priest of the archdiocese of Cape Town. As a special gift to Southern Cross readers, he has written a short Christmas story which can be read at www.scross.co.za/2020/11/thesaving-power-of-christmas

Madonna and Child from the Jesus Mafa project in Cameroon.

Detail from “Madonna and Child with the Book”, by Raphael, who died 500 years ago this year.

MEDJUGORJE ROME • ASSISI • LORETO May 31 - June 9, 2021 Led by Archbishop Stephen Brislin

For more information or to book, please contact Gail at info@fowlertours.co.za or phone/WhatsApp 076 352-3809

www.fowlertours.co.za/medju

Pray in Medjugorje and visit Rome, with papal audience, Assisi, the town of St Francis, Loreto with Mary’s House.

Plus a tour of historic Split in Croatia.

Three countries in one tour!

Günther Simmermacher’s annual Biography of a Christmas carol

The story of ‘We Three Kings’

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ANY OF OUR BELOVED Christmas carols have come from the United States, and “We Three Kings” was the first to cross the Atlantic and become popular throughout the Anglophone world.

Its vaguely Eastern-sounding chorus — “O Star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright” — gives this carol the hint of authentic flavour: the story of the hymn plays out in Bethlehem, which is to the East of most who sing it, and the protagonists arrive in Bethlehem from the east.

John Henry Hopkins Jr, who in 1857 wrote “We Three Kings Of Orient Are” (to give it its full grammatically-tortured title), was something of an all-rounder. He was born in 1820 as the son of an influential Episcopalian (US Anglican) cleric who would later become a leading (and anti-Catholic) bishop. Like his father, he had a broad field of interests in which he excelled: as an author, illustrator, cartoonist, designer, composer, music teacher and journalist. And, like his father, he also was a cleric.

As so often, a widely-beloved Christmas carol had humble beginnings. Hopkins, a bachelor, wrote “We Three Kings” as a Christmas present for his nieces and nephews. It was first performed at the family gathering at his father’s Vermont residence for Christmas 1857.

The first performance

We may imagine how the carol was performed. The verses are written for three male voices, each taking a solo on behalf of the respective Wise Men from the East: Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar. Perhaps John Henry Jr took one verse, his father another, and his brother — the father of the children for whom the carol was written — the third. The rather melancholy sounding verses would then be responded to by all in that rousing chorus.

The family loved it, as did the congregation at Trinity church in New York a Christmas later — but the composition was no instant success on the Christmas carols hit parade. It was only after its repeated publication in the 1860s that the popularity of “We Three Kings” spread, but then quickly.

A lesser seasonal Hopkins composition, “Gather Around the Christmas Tree”, also enjoyed some popularity,

John Henry Hopkins Jr and the sheet music to “We Three Kings” as published in his book of hymns in 1863.

but is rather forgotten now. Still, for a while Hopkins was given the title “The Father Christmas of Vermont”, even though he neither lived nor composed there (he, however, did have a suitable beard). Today Hopkins is remembered for “We Three Kings”, which is one of the few standards in the canon of carols to be credited, in words and lyrics, to one single person.

Hopkins did not add much else to the world of song; his main job was the

care of souls as an Episcopalian rector of parishes in Plattsburgh, New York and Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Hopkins died in 1891 at the age of 70.

How many kings?

His great legacy is a Christmas carol sung in churches throughout the world — despite its perpetuation of a historical misunderstanding. St Matthew, who in his Gospel reports on the visit of giftbearing men from the East, neither lists the size of the delegation nor their rank and title. The Western idea that they were three in number (some traditions in Eastern Christianity count 12 of them) is generally inferred from the number of gifts they bore: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

And because these items were so expensive, a tradition arose that only kings could afford such extravagances. That idea is supported by the prophecy of Isaiah, who referred to “kings” bearing gold and frankincense, and Psalm 72:11 (“May all kings fall down before him”).

Contrary to many depictions of the Nativity, the Magi were not present at the neonatal stable that first Christmas. Matthew simply doesn’t say when they arrived.

But let the finer points of scholarship not disturb us at Christmas. In as far as we are allowed to sing “We Three Kings” at Covid-restricted Christmas Masses in our churches this year, let heaven sing Hallelujah, and “Hallelujah the earth replies”. n More stories behind the carols are at www.scross.co.za/category/features/ biography-of-hymns/

To our pilgrims, past and future!

May the love of Our Lord embrace you this Christmas and throughout 2021!

The Southern Cross

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Write to us

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.

St Francis, a soldier who became a peacemaker. Seen outside the basilica named after him in Assisi, central Italy.

Sail and sell well

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CCORDING TO PROF MC Schraefel of the University of Southampton, “We are wired to deal with every aspect of physically, present, personal contact, from the uncomfortable conversations to the highly gratifying exchanges.” The Southern Cross magazine certainly slots into one of those “highly gratifying exchanges”.

Thank you and your staff. Your commitment, bravery, Catholic Action and faith are exemplary. I am on the shady side of 90, the wrong gender, and do not have the necessary ecclesiastical authority, but would give you a highly complimentary imprimatur on this new format.

May all those who have been involved with the launch of this new ship, “The Southern Cross Magazine”, be thanked and blessed. May it sail well (and sell well!); let the waves be smooth; may it glide well into a successful future and reach the harbour of every Catholic home.

Kay Temple, Pietermaritzburg

Great new format

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OU MUST BE CONGRATULATED for producing, in spite of working on a skeleton staff, such a wholesome magazine! The format is so reader-friendly — no more struggling with a newspaper buckling in all directions. Every article is so informative. We might have to throw dice to see who can keep the portrait poster of St Teresa of Avila!

It was a great joy for me to read that Puleng Matsaneng is still sharing with people the Ignatian spirituality, particularly the discernment of spirits. If only more people knew how to discover which “Spirit” is leading them in their decisions, the whole world would be in a better place.

Dave Tomlinson, an Anglican priest, in his book Re-Enchanting Christianity writes: “For faith to flourish it must engage in a vigorous conversation both with its own past and with contemporary culture.” That is an excellent summing-up of what The Southern Cross is doing.

Sr Bernadette Wilczkiewicz IBVM, Pretoria

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Q&A: We already are saved!

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T THE END OF HIS Q&A answer in your October issue, Michael Shackleton completely misquotes and misinterprets Romans 8:24 when he writes: “Since we are not saved yet, is something we must wait for in patience.”

These are not Paul’s words, but the writer’s interpretation and pontification. To say we are not saved yet goes against the biblical narrative of John 5:24, where we are told we are saved by faith.

Obviously hope is the cornerstone. However, to write that we are not saved yet plays into the hands of Protestant/Pentecostal extremists who would invite Catholics to be saved.

They would readily quote the writer of the Q&A and name The Southern Cross as the authoritative source as they then invite “unsaved Catholics to come to our church where you will be assured of being saved”.

Romans 8:24 needs to be thoroughly studied and prayed on because it can be easily misunderstood and subsequently misinterpreted.

Geoffrey Levington, Cape Town

MICHAEL SHACKLETON responds: Thank you for your comment and for supporting our new magazine. The words I quoted from Romans 8 were not my own interpretation but taken directly from the text of The Jerusalem Bible (1966).

Christ has saved us from Original Sin but not the effects of that sin, human weakness, suffering and death, which remain with us. Meanwhile, we must be patient until our resurrection.

Pray for the world

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S I WAS PRAYING THE ROSARY, Divine Mercy chaplet, the Angelus and about the pandemic before weekday Mass recently, I had a thought: Does our loving Father sometimes plant various prayers in our hearts at particular times in our history, to serve as signposts to point our thoughts and actions in certain directions — and do we follow them?

Christ asked us to be “peacemakers”, but do we pray for other countries and peoples besides our own, or are we xenophobic, racist, intolerant towards other cultures, ideologies, faiths, and even others within our own Church?

Pope Francis has lamented that a Third World War is being fought “piecemeal”. How many of us see it on TV or in newspapers and shrug, “It’s not my concern”, and treat social problems, the pandemic, climate change in this way? Or do we pray?

Some 800 years ago, St Francis of Assisi risked beheading when he crossed the African desert to talk of peace between the Sultan and the Crusaders. He said that “you cannot teach peace through war, nor gentleness by violence, nor love and forgiveness by retribution and violence. The citadel you have to capture is the heart.”

A prayer card issued for the Year of Prayer for Southern Africa in 1985 showed a slightly modified version of the prayer attributed to St Francis, “Make me an instrument of your peace”. If prayed thoughtfully, it is a very meaningful prayer, which changes hearts, attitudes and mindsets, starting with our own.

Perhaps we could pray it with Pope Francis this coming year, starting on January 1, the World Day of Peace — and pray not just for the pandemic but for all the world’s problems and troubles, in the same way as my husband and I on a world trip shortly after our 1994 elections found Chinese and Filipino Catholics had been praying for us, and about the Rwandan genocide — people in Far East Asia had been praying for our problems on the other side of the world! Can’t we do the same, not just on January 1 but from now on?

Athaly Jenkinson, East London

God’s blinding light

Nthabiseng Maphisa: Millennial Catholic

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‘I can now begin to become the spiritual rock star I have dreamed of being’ heated at very high temperatures. With some imagination, the figurative meaning of the word becomes apparent. In my case, the light of God became my crucible and my soul was set to the fire of humility. Take into your heart what muddiness did rise to the surface, what ghosts did then reveal themselves, and what howling did I hear in the night.

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WONDER WHAT IT’S LIKE TO spend a day at the office with God. Who takes the calls? Are there meetings in boardrooms? How’s the coffee? Is it always busy?

The way I picture it is that when a soul loses its way to sin, heaven acts to lead the soul to itself. No doubt there are a few sighs when one of God’s own starts acting up. I imagine a file arriving at the desk of God, and in his wisdom, he does what needs to be done.

God loves us too much to leave us as we are. It is then, I believe, that fire is sent down from heaven and lands upon a soul in the form of humility. Do we invite the flame and allow it to illuminate our souls, or do we dare to remain cold?

I recall the first time I read Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, a play based on the witch trials which took place in Salem, Massachusetts, in the late 1600s.

The story itself is shocking and gripping. But there is something about the title that fascinated me then and is painfully relevant to me now.

A crucible is a container in which metals or other substances can be

abundance of lonely hours. But I attempted to make each day fruitful. With good intentions, I walked further into the light of God’s truth. Something happened. I was suddenly confronted with truths about myself which I had conveniently forgotten.

The light of God’s truth can be so bright that it burns. In time, my selfrighteousness, my vanity, and even my plans crackled and sizzled away. I was once told in the confessional that humility is knowing the truth of who you really are, not who you think you are. I am a testament to this. The veil of my self-righteousness was stripped away. It lay on the floor before me. It was sprawled next to my pride and sloth and wrath.

Humility feels like walking into a room in which the curtains are torn, the chairs disassembled and the carpet stained. When one looks around for the cause of the destruction, there is no else around. Thus a finger must be pointed in a particular direction.

I’m grateful for the work the Lord has begun in me. Torturous as it is, I can now begin to become the spiritual rock star I have dreamed of being. St Paul tells us that “when I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things� (1 Corinthians 13:11). And so I think that not only is humility about seeing yourself in the light of the divine lamp but also about growing out of spiritual childishness.

I hope that I can continue to get out of God’s way so that he can turn me into something better than I could become on my own.

The Southern Cross

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Raymond Perrier on Faith & Society

Fratelli Tutti inspected:

What women say

repeatedly stresses the equality of T’S BEEN ALMOST TWO MONTHS women and men — the only woman since Pope Francis published his that Francis names in the encyclical is encyclical Fratelli Tutti on the feast Our Lady, and not one of his 288 referof the little poor man of Assisi (il ences cites a woman. This unfortupoverello). In a world where social nately fuels critics who feel that the media zooms past us, the temptation is very title of the document excludes to dismiss this now as “old news”. But women. As a student of the language, Vatican documents are not fast food — please accept my assurance that fratelli they are rich dishes to be savoured over in Italian need not be gender-specific time, and at 37 000 words there is and so is not directly equivalent to the English word “brothers”, which clearly plenty to chew on in this dish!

Pope Francis in Fratelli Tutti urges is. But the question still lingers.

I sought comment on Fratelli Tutti us: “Between selfish indifference and violent protest there is always another not just from people of faith but from Women of faith speak possible option: that of dialogue.” He six women of faith, all of them partners Lauren Matthew, a Methodist defines this as “approaching, speaking, in the work of the Denis Hurley Centre minister, noted parallels with the writlistening, looking at, coming to know in Durban (in fact, one is a trustee and ings of Martin Luther and John Wesley. and understand one another, to find another a patron). What did they make She placed Pope Francis on a continof Francis’ encyclical? common ground”. uum with these important reformers in I am pleased to say that they were So looking for partners with whom calling on the Church to recognise to dialogue about Fratelli when it has been comTutti, I was inspired by the plicit and complacent example that the pope cites and needs to “shift from of St Francis’ willingness to toxic patterns of particivisit the sultan in Egypt, mirpating in the world”. rored 800 years later in his Like them, Lauren saw own visit to Abu Dhabi in Francis as calling us to February 2019 to sign a joint “more than just a superdeclaration with the grand ficial and polite reimam of al-Azhar, Cairo. sponse” to the problems I also noticed that when we see around us. talking about people whose Saydoon Sayed, a lives he found inspiring, Muslim scholar and also a Francis places alongside two key figure in “Religions Catholic saints a Baptist for Peace”, was not alone (Martin Luther King), a Left from top: Lauren Matthew, Saydoon Sayed, Delysia Timm in finding hope that we Hindu (Mahatma Gandhi) Right from top: Mary Kluk, Ela Gandhi, Elizabeth Gaywood can address the “dark and an Anglican (our very clouds” since we are all own Desmond Tutu) — all of children of one God, who can look whom have a particular resonance for all grateful for a reason to read and rewithin ourselves and at our ethics of flect on it and generally welcomed its South Africa. So the dialogue partners I sought are from other Christian and main message, its openness to dialogue, everyday living. Picking up on Francis’ and its call to action. Given their varied core story of the Good Samaritan, she faith traditions.

But curiously — even though he backgrounds — different from mine suggested that we remember that we are all “strangers on the road”.

Delysia Timm, an Anglican priest The managers of and academic, pointed out that the Fowler Travel parable of the Good Samaritan shows The Southern Cross’ for all your us that often we fail to include the ASSOCIATES travel needs! “other” because we do not even see the CAMPAIGN Soon we will be able to travel again. person. But she rightly went on to cauFOWLER TRAVEL arranges all local or wish all tion about the way in which our lanoverseas holidays, local or international supporters and guage might be unintentionally business trips, group tours — all tailored to donors a your particular personal needs. othering: not just the use of gender-exblessed Christmas Call Michael now at 083 704-5063 clusive terms but also the phrase “all or email michael@fowlertravel.co.za and a peaceful 2021 Christians and people of goodwill”.

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and different from one another — they helped me see ideas in the text which I would have missed.

Most of the women I asked are married and parents (and, in one case, openly homosexual). So it was not surprising that they particularly welcomed the pope’s concern for the plight of children and the need to include children in our “culture of encounter”.

Given that four of them are also women of colour, I was struck by a comment that while Francis’ view of “dark clouds over a closed world” was depressing, it probably understated the harsh reality faced by people (and especially women) of colour.

The Southern Cross

Was this implying, she wondered, that all Christian are automatically people of goodwill? Or that among other people only some are people of goodwill? She felt that both of those were problematic ideas.

For Francis, the Good Samaritan is a model not just because he helps another person but also because he finds his personal fulfilment in doing so. Mary Kluk, vice-president of the World Jewish Congress, praised the pope for stressing that “the opportunity to belong, to be a contribution, is what is so often missing from our lives”. She shared his fear that we are instead tempted to isolate ourselves in a prison of entitlement and superiority, quoting his words: “Isolation, no. Closeness, yes. Culture clash, no. Culture of encounter, yes.”

Ela Gandhi, renowned social activist and granddaughter of the Mahatma, echoed Saydoon in welcoming Francis’ stress on the practical response of “acts of kindness” as a step towards a just and peaceful world. Ela explained that Hindu scriptures and hymns speak about the virtue of kindness as a step ahead of charity or empathy.

“Kindness is not just an action but is accompanied with a warm feeling, and indeed it is a star in the midst of darkness,” she told me.

Elizabeth Gaywood, drawing on the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, went further in urging that genuine compassion and loving kindness should be not just towards other people but towards all sentient beings. She explained that in Buddhism we can do this once we are freed from a focus on our own suffering.

Ela picked up on this idea of being “freed to” once we are “freed from”. Francis’ words resonate for her: “Kindness frees us from the cruelty that at times infects human relationships, from the anxiety that prevents us from thinking of others, from the frantic flurry of activity that forgets that others also have a right to be happy.”

I leave the conclusion to Lauren, who sees Francis as distinguishing between superficial acts of charity, and heart — changing and institution — changing acts of mercy. “These become practices which, grounded in God’s activity in the world, stretch us open to the already present God that is at work in our story and the story of all creation.”

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Your dog will be in heaven

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OME YEARS AGO AT A RELIGIOUS conference, a man approached the microphone. After apologising for what he felt would be an inappropriate question, he asked this: “I love my dog. When he dies, will he go to heaven?

Do animals have eternal life?”

The answer to that might come as a surprise to many of us, but — looked at through the eyes of Christian faith — yes, his dog can go to heaven. It’s one of the meanings of Christmas.

God came into the world to save the world, not just the people living in it. The incarnation has meaning for humanity, but also for the cosmos itself. We don’t know exactly what that means, and our imaginations aren’t up to the task of picturing it — but because of the incarnation, dogs too can go to heaven.

Is this fanciful? No, it’s scriptural teaching. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus and see in his birth the beginning of the mystery of the incarnation unfolding in history, the mystery of God becoming human in physical flesh in order to save the world.

What we tend to struggle with, though, is how we understand what’s meant by Christ saving the world. Most of us take that to mean that Christ came into the world to save the people, those of us with self-awareness and eternal souls. That’s true, but our faith also asks us to believe that God’s saving activity in Christ extends to more than only human beings and more than even animals and other living things.

God’s saving activity in Christ reaches so deep that it saves creation itself — the oceans, the mountains, the soil that grows our food, the desert sands, and the earth itself. Christ came to save all of those things too, not just us, the people.

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here, you might ask, does scripture teach this? It teaches it almost everywhere in implicit ways, but it teaches it quite explicitly in a number of different places.

For example, in the Epistle to the Romans, St Paul writes: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. “We know that the whole creation has

been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (8:19-22).

This may come as a surprise to us since, until quite recently, our preaching and catechesis has not often made this explicit. However, what St Paul is saying here is that physical creation itself — the cosmic world — will, at the end of time, be transformed in some glorious way and enter into heaven, just as human beings do. He’s also saying that, like us, it too somehow senses its mortality and groans to be set free from its present limits.

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e need to ask ourselves this question: What do we believe will happen to physical creation at the end of time? Will it be destroyed, burnt-up, annihilated? Or will it simply be abandoned and left empty and deserted like a stage after a play has ended, while we go on to life elsewhere?

Scripture informs us otherwise. It tells us that physical creation itself, our planet Earth, will also be transformed (“liberated from its bondage to decay”) and enter into heaven with us.

How will this happen? We can’t imagine it, just as we can’t imagine our own transformed state. But scripture assures us that it will happen because, like ourselves, our world — physical creation — is also destined to die, and, like us, it intuits its mortality and groans under that sentence, aching to be set free from its limitations and become immortal.

Science agrees. It tells us that physical creation is mortal, that the sun is burning out, that energy is ever so slowly decreasing, and that the earth as we know it will someday die. The earth is as mortal as we are, so if it is to have a future, it needs to be saved by Something or Someone from outside itself.

That Something and Someone are revealed in the mystery of the incarnation within which God takes on physical flesh in Christ in order to save the world — and what he came to save was not just us, the people living on this earth, but rather “the world”: the planet itself and everything on it.

Jesus assured us that nothing is ever ultimately lost. No hair falls from someone’s head and no sparrow falls from the sky and simply disappears forever, as if it had never been. God created, loves, cares for, and ultimately resurrects every bit of creation for all eternity — including a beloved dog.

So, here’s my counsel: seek out what does that for you. It doesn’t have to bring tears to your eyes, it just has to point you with searing clarity towards home!

The Southern Cross

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PRAY WITH THE POPE Every month FR CHRIS CHATTERIS SJ reflects on Pope Francis’ universal prayer intention.

Prayer: Take the time

Intention: We pray that our personal relationship with Jesus Christ be nourished by the Word of God and a life of prayer.

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S A JESUIT, I AM WHAT IS called a “contemplative in action”. This is an Ignatian term which is often taken to mean that those who follow the tradition of Ignatius of Loyola don’t pray in a formal way. Rather, we weave prayer into the action of our ordinary day. The old joke goes that the Jesuit will not permit you to smoke while you pray, but he will allow you to pray while you smoke.

However, I think this is all an unfortunate misconception. Certainly contemplatives in action must keep their eyes on the Lord in the midst of their busy lives, but it’s by no means as simple or as minimal as that.

We are not active contemplatives in the sense that prayer is an unfortunate but secondary necessity, despite what many people think and despite the impression we often give.

No, Jesuits really are contemplatives; as religious our first and foremost aim is to find God. Certainly this means “finding God in all things”, but it also means finding all things in God. This cannot be done by a life of frenetic activity in which I make the odd sidelong glance at the Lord. On the contrary, it demands a life of prayer of some depth — and depth requires some length.

A recent biographer of Pope Fran-

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cis says that the Holy Father, a Jesuit, rises at 4:30 every morning to read Scripture and to pray, and that the very fruitful action of his pontificate flows from this lifelong practice. It is striking that this old man, who never seems to take a holiday or a break, almost always seems so highly energised.

The press often repeats the cliché that he finds his energy by meeting people. I would be willing to bet, however, that he wouldn’t be half as energised by all the people he is constantly

Pope Francis rises at 4:30 every morning to read Scripture and to pray seeing if he didn’t spend that sacred time with the Lord each morning.

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have just emerged from a sevenmonth lockdown. In order to ensure that we could complete the year’s programme at the seminary where I teach, we decided to remain under strict isolation, without domestic staff, for a telescoped academic year. It has been a relentlessly busy time, a treadmill of teaching and formation, with the additional burdens of cooking, maintenance and cleaning. There were times of intense fatigue and of

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Prayer in gratitude for employment

Holy St. Joseph, husband of Mother Mary and protector of Jesus, and St. Jude, kinsman of Jesus Christ, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles. Faithful intercessors of all who invoke you both and special patrons in times of need. To you both, I had recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly asked you to come to our assistance in this time of urgent and desperate need. We now thank you most humbly for granting my petitions. In return, I promised to make your names known and to have this prayer published. Amen.

Felicity and David Borland.

claustrophobic “cabin fever”.

What I discovered was that if I didn’t get enough sleep, exercise and especially prayer, I struggled much more than when I did. I discovered anew the simple force of Thomas Merton’s advice about prayer, which is that we have to “take the time”. I rediscovered the truth of that old paradox of how really busy people need to try to pray longer.

Life is hard. Sometimes it seems pretty meaningless. We might even ask ourselves: “Why do I live this way?” The one who listens daily to the word of God and spends time striving to become deeply immersed in God, will find some answers to these mysteries — and in the heart rather than the head. And some days, tasks that often are the last thing I want to do can be taken on with peace and an ample supply of energy.

All Christians are contemplatives.

We must all struggle to find the Lord in our lives, whether they be fascinatingly engrossing or tediously boring.

Within what is possible in our different situations, we will manage to live out our vocations to whatever type of Christian life we have been called only if we heed Merton on prayer and we “take the time”.

DEATH

Jasmine Mary Naylor née Doig. Loving thoughts of a very dear wife, loving mother, grandmother and greatgrandmother who passed away on Sunday 25th October 2020.

Treasured by us all.

Gerald and the Naylor family. Psalm 23

In Memoriam

In December we at The Southern Cross remember with affection our late colleagues Noel Bruyns (December 6, 2004) and Gene Donnelly (December 18, 2011).

May their souls rest in heavenly peace!

Prayer Corner

Since his inauguration as pontiff, Pope Francis has always asked people to pray for him. So on December 17, his 84th birthday, we’re doing just that.

Your prayers to cut out and collect Do you have a favourite prayer? Please send it with a reference to its origin, at editor@scross.co.za

10 things to pray for at Christmas 1. for attentiveness to what truly matters 2. for opportunities to learn something new 3. for discernment of God’s will for the year 4. for peace in all situations 5. for freedom from fear and doubt 6. for confidence in God’s love for you 7. for openness to the Holy Spirit’s guidance 8. for strong relationships in community 9. for a passion to pursue justice 10. for joy and a sense of humour

Advent prayer for courage Heavenly Father, help me to hear Your voice. Touch me once again.

Give me the courage to be Your beloved. Give me courage to choose joy.

I need You now this Christmas.

Be born in me again, today.

In Jesus’ name, Amen

BIRTHDAY PRAYER FOR THE POPE

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e pray to our Heavenly Father to continue to bless Pope Francis, giving him a long life, free from illness, for he is an inspiration to God’s people.

With his humility, we pray he touches our lives and draws us closer to God. This we ask in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Amen

(Source: Clicktopray.org)

Christmas prayer My precious Lord Jesus, I adore You with profound love and rejoice in the celebration of Your birth. Your love for us is unfathomable, it is glorious, transforming, awe-inspiring, and deeply personal.

You chose to come and dwell among us, being born into poverty, rejection and humility.

Reveal to me the glorious power of Your birth and change my life on account of this perfect gift of Yourself.

Help me to love You with all my heart. Newborn Saviour of the World, I trust in You. Pray for me and for all.

Amen

The Southern Cross

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Anagram Challenge

Christmas Wordsearch

1

ANGEL

ISAIAH

MATTHEW

CENSUS

JOSEPH

NATIVITY

FRANKINCENSE

MAGI

BETHLEHEM

JESUS

DONKEY HEROD

MYRRH

LUKE

SHEPHERDS

MARY

SILENTNIGHT

5. Martyr with feast day in December (4) 7. Is it a bother to lead it in the Christmas ballroom? (5,5) 8. May be first course at Christmas dinner (4) 10. Appearance of the Magi (8) 11. Demand in the main Sistine chapel (6) 12. Timothy’s pious mother (2 Tim 1) (6) 14. Does it open the flow of wine to pigs? (6) 16. Saint has trident visible (6) 17. Keeping a supply for Father Christmas to put into? (8) 19. Offer for sale five before the finish (4) 21. your firm decision for next year (10) 22. Where horses are bred in the dust (4)

HOLY JOTTED ROW

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HATEFULLY ALOOF MICE

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I ACKNOWLEDGE SONGS

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CLAIRVOYANTS END IDIOCY

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HELMET WENT TO BE FOOTHILL

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AM YAWNER AGAIN

STABLE

Festive Crossword

ACROSS

Unscramble the clues below to work out which famous Christmas carols hide in these words

DOWN

1. Ma’s cross when you abbreviate Christmas (4) 2. It encloses the Christmas gift (8) 3. The prelude to Christmas time (6) 4. Ingredient of the Christmas salad (6) 5. Oldest daughter of Laban (Gn 29) (4) 6. you need it electrically for Christmas lights (10) 9. Men to point out God’s greatness (10) 13. The Birth of the Saviour (8) 15. you may feel it before your Christmas drink (6) 16. They carolled for the shepherds (6) 18. Kind of board for Christmas greetings (4) 20. Do it like a gourmet at Christmas meal (4)

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Solutions below

Town Of Bethlehem; 6. Away In A Manger

Anagrams: 1.Joy To The World; 2. O Come All Ye Faithful; 3. Good King Wenceslas; 4. Once In Royal David’s City; 5. O Little

Crossword Solutions: ACROSS: 5 Lucy, 7 Merry dance, 8 Soup, 10 Epiphany, 11 Insist, 12 Eunice, 14 Spigot, 16 Astrid, 17 Stocking, 19 Vend, 21 Resolution, 22 Stud. DOWN: 1 Xmas, 2 Wrapping, 3 Advent, 4 Endive, 5 Leah, 6 Connection, 9 Omnipotent, 13 Nativity, 15 Thirst, 16 Angels, 18 Card, 20 Dine

32 The Southern Cross

The Big southern Cross Christmas Quiz

Q1: Christmas vestments

Q2: Oxen at the Nativity

1. What colour vestments do Catholic priests wear at Christmas Mass? a) Gold b) Green c) Red

2. According to the Gospel of St Matthew, how many oxen were present at Jesus’ birth? a) None b) One c) Two

4. What is the Portuguese name for Father Christmas? a) Papai Noel c) São Nicolau c) Senhor Natal 5. Which of these classic Christmas films features no angel? a) It’s A Wonderful Life b) Miracle on 34th Street c) The Bishop’s Wife

6. Who introduced the Christmas tree to Britain? a) King George V b) Prince Albert c) Queen Anne

7. In which country may you expect to receive a “peace apple” for Christmas? a) China b) Thailand c) Cambodia

8. With whom did Bing Crosby duet on his hit “Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth”? a) Billy Joel b) David Bowie c) Elton John 9. Near which Italian town did St Francis assemble the first Nativity scene in 1223?

10. What was the first artificial Christmas tree made of? a) Broom bristles b) Goose feathers c) Shredded leather

12. In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, who is gravely ill? a) Belle b) Mrs Fezziwig c) Tiny Tim

13. Which carol includes the lines, “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks, a new and glorious morn”? a) O Come All ye Faithful b) O Holy Night c) O Little Town of Bethlehem 14. Which explorer named the South African region of Natal after Christmas? a) Bartolomeu Dias b) Henry the Navigator c) Vasco da Gama 15. In which Church is the internationally televised Midnight Christmas Mass from Bethlehem celebrated? a) Church of the Nativity b) Holy Ghost Church c) St Catherine’s Church

16. What did Haddon Sundblom contribute to the celebration of Christmas? a) Christmas Crackers b) Jolly Santa Claus c) Reindeers and a sleigh

Q14: Portuguese explorer

Q9: St Francis of Assisi

Q12: Dickens

17. What eight things did my true love give to me on the eighth day of Christmas? a) Geese a-laying b) Maids a-milking c) Swans a-swimming

18. What does the myrrh which the Magi brought the baby Jesus symbolise? a) Burial b) Kingship c) Priesthood

19. Where was Christmas banned as a holiday for 300 years until 1958? a) England b) Ireland c) Scotland

20. Which popular carol is based on a Ukrainian folk chant called “Shchedryk”? c) Angels We Have Heard On High b) Carol Of The Bells c) Ding Dong Merrily On High 21. In which modern-day country would you locate “Good King Wenceslas”? a) Czechia b) Hungary c) Poland 22. Which fruit is regarded as a special Christmas food in Madagascar? a) Guava b) Lychee c) Watermelon

23. In which city was George Frederick Handel’s “The Messiah” first performed? a) Dublin b) Durham c) Düsseldorf

24. In those days a decree went out from which Caesar that the whole world should be enrolled (Luke 1:1)? a) Augustus b) Julius c) Tiberius 25. What colour was Elvis Presley’s Christmas? a) Black b) Blue c) White

Q18: A question of myrrh

Q25: Elvis’ Christmas colour

1. a) Gold (and white); 2. a) None; 3. c) USA; 4. a) Papai Noel; 5. b) Miracle On 34th Street; 6. b) Prince Albert (the husband of Queen Victoria); 7. a) China (possibly because of the similarity of the Chinese word for apple, ping guo, to the word for Christmas Eve, ping’an ye); 8. b) David Bowie; 9. c) Rieti; 10. b) Goose feathers (dyed green; a German innovation); 11. b) Hawaii; 12. c) Tiny Tim; 13. b) O Holy Night; 14. c) Vasco da Gama; 15. c) St Catherine’s Church; 16. b) Jolly Santa Claus (Sundblom designed the template for depictions of Santa for a Coca-Cola ad. Before that, Santa Claus could be jolly or stern, and wear colours other than red); 17. b) Maids a-milking; 18. a) Burial; 19. c) Scotland; 20 b) Carol Of The Bells; 21. a) Czechia (or Czech Republic); 22. b) Lychee; 23. a) Dublin; 24. a) Augustus; 25. b) Blue

ANSWERS

a) Assisi b) Perugia c) Rieti

11. Where are you if the locals wish you “Mele Kalikimaka”? a) Basque Country b) Hawaii c) Lapland

3. In which country was the carol “Away In A Manger” written? a) Germany b) France c) USA

Q15: Bethlehem Mass

Q8: Bing’s singing partner

The Southern Cross

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Five New Year’s Resolutions to enrich your faith It’s time again to plan those New Year’s resolutions. If you usually have a hard time keeping resolutions, it may be time to try something new.

Here are FIVE GREAT RESOLUTIONS to help you be a better Catholic in 2021.

4 Spend the year with a Church Father

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ROW IN YOUR FAITH IN THIS upcoming year by trying some of these thoroughly Catholic habits.

1 Study Scripture

St Jerome is unequivocal: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” If you attend Sunday Mass and daily Mass for a full three-year liturgical cycle, you will still hear only a fraction of the Bible.

It’s an old myth that Catholics don’t study the Bible; in fact, the Catechism commends us to spend time with the Word of God.

St Augustine

2 Perform acts of corporal mercy

Our Lord asks us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit prisoners, bury the dead, and give alms to the poor — and to do so as if each person we serve were Christ himself.

Begin the new year by helping a neighbour or stranger in need. Or join a charitable sodality in your parish

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34 The Southern Cross

S out he rn C r os s

St Teresa of Avila Th e

nothing perturb ‘you,Letnothing frighten you. All things pass. ’

3 Pray a novena

A novena is a nine-day period of prayer devoted to a particular saint or petition. “Novena” comes from the Latin word meaning nine, novem. Novenas became popular in the Middle Ages and have antecedents in the early Church.

Some trace the inspiration for the practice to the nine days the disciples spent praying between Jesus’ ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Often when a novena is directed to a saint, the final day of the novena coincides with the saint’s feast day.

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The Fathers of the Church lived between the end of the apostolic era and the death of Pope Gregory the Great in 604 AD. Patristic writing is a rich source of theological truth and spiritual strength and serves as one of the foundations for the teachings of the Church.

Spend the year studying the works of a Church Father with whom you are unfamiliar. Here are a few to consider: John Chrysostom, Tertullian, Jerome, Pamphilus of Caesarea, Clement of Alexandria,, Hilary of Poitiers, Origen, Augustine of Hippo, Lactantius, Novatian, Justin Martyr, Cyprian of Carthage, Gregory of Nyssa, and Ambrose of Milan.

5 Discover a new saint every month

Detail from a painting by François Gérard (1827)

While we try to live out our calling to become saints, the saints intercede for us in heaven. How well do you know them? Study the life of a different saint every month this year. The Southern Cross features a “Saint of the Month” in each issue (see illustration above). n This article first appeared on Verbum.com

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Final Words

History in Colour

Great Quotes on

ADVENT

A snapshot from the past, colourised exclusively for The Southern Cross

‘Christmas is fast approaching. And now that Christ has aroused our seasonal expectations, he’ll soon fulfil them all!’

– St Augustine (354-430)

‘Advent is a journey towards Bethlehem. May we let ourselves be drawn by the light of God made man.’

– Pope Francis (b.1936)

‘A prison cell in which one waits, hopes and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.’

– Rev Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-45)

‘Life is Advent; life is recognising the coming of the Lord.’

– Fr Henri Nouwen (1932-96)

‘It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope.’

In May 1932 Bishop Bernard O’Riley of Cape Town (front centre) visited seminarians from his vicariate at Propaganda Fide College in Rome, just before his retirement in June that year. In the group is young Owen McCann (back left), who would be ordained on December 21, 1935, then serve as Southern Cross editor from 1941-48 (and later again from 1986-91) before becoming bishop of Cape Town in 1950, and South Africa’s first cardinal in 1965. He died in 1994. Pictured are: (back from left) Owen McCann, Bernard Costello, Harold Doran, an unidentified student who left the seminary before ordination, Nicholas Watkins, (front) Jack Burke, Bishop O’Riley, and John Garner, the future archbishop of Pretoria. Bishop O’Riley lived until 1956, and was the principal consecrator of both Bishops Garner and McCann.

– Pope Benedict XVI (b. 1927)

‘Christmas has lost its meaning for us because we have lost the spirit of expectancy. We cannot prepare for an observance. We must prepare for an experience.’

– Rev Handel H Brown (1914-91)

‘I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.’

– Charles Dickens (1812-70)

‘He became what we are that he might make us what he is.’

– St Anathasius of Alexandria (c.296-373)

The

The last laugh I

T WAS A MISTY, COLD CHRISTMAS morning in the depths of winter in an Irish village. After heavy snowfall the night before, only one farmer managed to turn up for the Christmas Mass.

“Well,” said the priest, surveying the empty pews, “I guess there’s no point in having a Mass today.”

“Oh, but you must,” said the farmer.

“When it’s feeding-time on my farm, and only one sheep turns up, I still feed it.”

Humbled by the farmer’s faith, the priest gave it all he had. Four hymns with all verses, psalm and the Gospel sung, a 30-minute sermon, the Eucharistic prayer with all the litanies — the works.

Pleased with himself, the priest asked the farmer: “So, how did I do?”

The farmer replied: “Well, Father, when I feed my sheep and only one turns up, I feed her — but I don’t give her the whole bag full!”

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