April Reality 2020

THE INFLUENCE OF MOTHER KEVIN

APRIL 2020

CHURCH RESPONSE TO THE CORONAVIRUS

ZIMBABWE TODAY AND THE THREAT OF DROUGHT AND FAMINE

Informing, Inspiring, Challenging Today’s Catholic

IT IS FINISHED

OUR TO ALL

FRA ANGELICO'S INTERPRETATION OF THE CRUCIFIXION

ST ALPHONSUS ON THE SEVEN LAST WORDS BRINGING A DEEPER AWARENESS OF THE CALVARY EVENTS

POSTURES AND GESTURES OF HOLY WEEK HOW SIGNIFICANT IS STANDING AND SITTING?

www.redcoms.org Redemptorist-Communications @RedComsIreland �2.50 �2.00

RS

READE

Redemptorist Communications Presents

A DOSE OF REALITY

By Fr Peter McVerry SJ

“There is something profoundly wrong when, in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, we have a record number of people homeless, children going to school hungry, and many, many people struggling to make ends meet and provide even basic necessities for their children.”

For the past 40 years, Fr Peter McVerry SJ has lived and worked with some of the most vulnerable people in Irish society. His experience with those who are homeless, poor and marginalised has given him a unique perspective on the issues facing Irish society, and their underlying political, economic and social roots.

This book contains a selection of articles from Fr McVerry’s monthly column in the Redemptorist magazine, Reality. They offer a reflection on issues from homelessness and drugs to justice and faith, as seen from the perspective of the poor.

Inspired by the Gospel and the Catholic Church’s social teaching, Fr McVerry challenges us all, from politicians to ordinary citizens, to listen with compassion, to examine our attitudes, and to attack the causes of inequality.

To order, contact Redemptorist Communications St Joseph’s Monastery, St Alphonsus Road Dundalk, County Louth A91 F3FC

Telephone: 00353 (0)1 4922 488 Email: sales@redcoms.org www.redcoms.org

€9.95 (plus P+P)

IN THIS MONTH’S ISSUE FEATURES �� CONSUMMATUM EST: THE VICTORY CRY OF THE DYING JESUS How a fresco of the Crucified Christ by Blessed Fra Angelico was lost for centuries, rediscovered and restored to its former glory.

By Fr Michael Dunleavy OP

�� POSTURES AND GESTURES OF HOLY WEEK How conscious are we of the meaning of these gestures?

By Maria Hall

�� ST ALPHONSUS DE LIGUORI ON THE SEVEN LAST WORDS Popular Lenten devotions have often used the last words of Jesus from the cross as a way of inculcating a deeper awareness of what took place at Calvary.

By Fr Denis J. Billy CSsR

12

�� “I WAS A PRISONER AND YOU VISITED ME…” The author takes his turn ministering in the local prison and the prisoners come to the monastery.

Fr Colm Meaney CSsR

�� “THY KINGDOM COME” When we pray for the coming of the Kingdom, we are at the heart of Jesus’ message that all creation will recognise and acknowledge the one and only God and Lord.

By Mike Daley

34

40

�� PILGRIM AND HERMIT For ten years of his life, St Clement was torn between becoming a pilgrim or a hermit.

By Fr Brendan McConvery CSsR

�� THE NAME OF GOD: MOTHER KEVIN Mother Kevin is one of a small select group of people who founded two religious congregations.

By John Scally

�� BACK TO ZIMBABWE Zimbabwe has undergone serious drought that might bring famine in its wake.

By Fr Richard Reid CSsR

OPINION

REGULARS

11 BRENDAN McCONVERY

04 REALITY BITES 07 POPE MONITOR 08 WOMEN SAINTS & MYSTICS 09 REFLECTIONS 42 TRÓCAIRE 45 GOD’S WORD

19 JIM DEEDS 31 CARMEL WYNNE 44 PETER McVERRY SJ

REALITY BITES CHURCH RESPONSE TO ITALY

TIME TO GET SERIOUS

Basilica Santa Maria della Salute, Venice

Duomo Cathedral, Milan

MASS IN CALVIN’S CATHEDRAL SWITZERLAND

4

The archdioceses of Venice and Milan has responded promptly to the emergency measures imposed by the Italian government for the control of the coronavirus. For the week February 23 to March 1, with provision to extend them further if needed, the following measures were put in place; they are in accordance with the provisions of Canon 1248, 2 for times when Sunday celebrations become impossible for a grave reason: •Suspension of all public Masses, including those of Sunday and Ash Wednesday:

•No celebrations of other sacraments – baptism, first communion, confirmation.

•Suspension of catechism classes and other pious acts, including the Way of the Cross during Lent.

•The faithful were recommended to fulfil their Sunday obligation by taking more time for personal prayer and where possible, following broadcast Masses on radio or television.

•In the case of funerals, religious burial was permitted with the participation of relatives but the funeral Mass was to be celebrated at a later date.

NO 'TAKEOVER'

The first Catholic Mass in nearly 500 years was celebrated at the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre de Genève on February 29. The cathedral was the seat of the Catholic bishops of Geneva from the fourth century until the Protestant Reformation.

The last Mass celebrated there was in 1535. At the Reformation, it was taken over by John Calvin’s Reformed Church, which destroyed the statues and paintings, and banned Catholic worship. One of Calvin’s associates was the Scottish reformer John Knox who introduced Calvin’s non-episcopal form of church government into Scotland as Presbyterianism. Fr Pascal Desthieux, Catholic episcopal vicar for Geneva, described the cathedral as the “central and symbolic location of Geneva’s Christian history, which following the reformation, became emblematic of Calvinist reform". While acknowledging that the return of Catholic Mass to the cathedral is a cause for rejoicing, Fr Desthieux warned against any triumphalism, or language suggesting the Catholics are seeking to “take over” the building.

Cathedral of St Pierre de Genève

REALITY APRIL 2020

N E WS

BOMB BLAST KILLS TWENTY DURING MASS IN CATHEDRAL PHILIPPINES

CATHOLICS UNDER THREAT ... AGAIN

Twenty people were killed and 111 wounded after two bombs exploded minutes apart during Sunday Mass in the cathedral on the island of Jolo in the southern Philippines. After the initial blast inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on January 27, which destroyed wooden pews and glass windows, the members of the congregation were rushing to get outside when a second bomb detonated near the cathedral’s entrance. The Philippines bishops' conference condemned the attack as an "act of terrorism". Jolo island has a population of more than 700,000. The island’s Catholics, estimated in 2014 to be around 31,000, mostly live in the capital of Jolo. There is a strong presence of Islam (about 25 per cent) in the southern part of the Philipiness on the large island of Mindanao and smaller islands like Jolo. Jolo is reported to be the headquarters of Abu Sayyaf terrorist group.

Aftermath of the bombings

Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

5

CRACKDOWN ON RELIGIOUS FUNERALS CHINA

"BAD FUNERAL CUSTOMS"

The communist-controlled Chinese government has begun to strictly control religious funerals. Bitter Winter, a magazine documenting human rights and religious freedom abuses in China, reported that authorities are enforcing policies that prohibit religious customs and rituals to be used during funerals. The 'Regulations on Centralised Funeral Arrangement' adopted by the government of Wenzhou city in the eastern province of Zhejiang,

came into effect on December 1, 2019. The new rules aim to “get rid of bad funeral customs and establish a scientific, civilised, and economical way of funerals". One regulation states that “clerical personnel are not allowed to participate in funerals”, and that “no more than ten family members of the deceased are allowed to read scriptures or sing hymns in a low voice”. Similar policies are being adopted elsewhere in the country.

When a member of the state-run Three-

Self Church died in October, her family arranged a Christian funeral, but the police stormed in and arrested the daughter, who was praying for her mother. The daughter was only released after the deceased was buried without Christian rites two days later.

An elder of the church says that “Pastors can only sneak into believers’ homes for a hurried prayer and some believers don’t even dare to accompany the deceased to the graveyard”. Officials claim that state laws prohibit religious funerals, and this extends to the use of religious symbols including crosses on graves. continued on page 6

REALITY BITES QUARTER OF EUROPEAN ORDINATIONS ARE POLISH About 350 priests or one in four of the total number ordained in Europe in 2017 were Polish. According to data from the Polish Institute for Catholic Church Statistics, reported by La Croix International, the total number of ordinations in Europe was 1,272 in 2017, the last year for which data are available.

Ordinations worldwide in the same year were 5,800.

While the overall number of diocesan priests in the world since 2000 reached 281,000 in 2017, in Europe the numbers have been in continuing decline, from 141,000 in 2003, 132,000 in 2011 to 125,000 in 2017. Another trend the Polish research

shows is an increase in the number of those leaving the priesthood. Worldwide, some 739 diocesan priests left in 2017. In Europe, 146 diocesan priests departed, down from 222 in 2012. Half of those who left in 2017 were Polish. Religious orders of men and women in Poland also show a downward trend: there were 177 entering formation training in 2017, compared to 566 in 2000 and 251 in 2009.

“We have often wondered why we do not attract more,” said Sr Jolanta Olech, secretary general of the Conference of Major Superiors of Female Religious Orders. “Certainly, part

VATICAN’S DODGY PROPERTY DEAL?

6

60 Sloane Avenue in west London and insert, Msgr Alberto Perlasca

Vatican authorities have seized documents and computers belonging to a senior curial official as part of an investigation into financial misconduct.

In a statement issued February 18, the Vatican press office confirmed that investigators had raided the office and home of Msgr Alberto Perlasca, the former head of the administrative office at the Secretariat of State. The raid is part of an ongoing investigation into alleged financial misconduct by officials at the secretariat including the purchase of a luxury property development in London. The property, at 60 Sloane Avenue in west London, was originally owned by an Italian financier who arranged the sale to the Vatican through a string of his own companies and investment funds, making, it is reported, hundreds of millions of euros profit from the deal.

The Holy See’s statement said: “This morning, as part of a search ordered by the Promoter of Justice, Gian Piero Milano, and the deputy, Alessandro Diddi, documents and computer equipment were seized at the office and home of Msgr. Alberto Perlasca.” Msgr Perlasca was the head of the Secretariat of State’s administrative office from 2009 until July 2019, when Pope Francis appointed him Promoter of Justice at the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, and so chief prosecutor of the Church’s highest ecclesiastical court.

REALITY APRIL 2020

of the reason for the fall in vocations is demography, cultural changes and a decline in faith, especially among the young. But perhaps we should also look at ourselves… Perhaps it should be an incentive to us to, as Pope Francis says, go into the margins…and look for those who nobody looks for.”

Church attendance of young people in Poland is also in decline. A 2018 survey by Pew Research showed only 26 per cent of those aged under 40 go to church every Sunday, compared to 55 per cent of over 40s.

CARDINAL CRITICAL OF CHURCH’S CHINA POLICY Cardinal Joseph Zen, former Archbishop of Hong Kong, was sharply critical of the Vatican’s China policy when speaking to American media in February.

“More and more, the Church is under persecution [in China].

Both the official Church, and the underground. Actually, the underground (which has remained loyal to the Vatican) is doomed to disappear. Why? Because even the Holy See is not helping. The older bishops are dying, there are less than 30 bishops left in the underground Church, and no new priests being ordained,” he said. “In the official (government sponsored) church, the faithful are more and more controlled.

On the top of the church they tell you to destroy the crosses, inside the church, they put the image of Xi Jinping (President of China) in a prominent place. Then they have to have the flag in the church and sing the national anthem.” The

Cardinal Joseph Zen

cardinal was particularly critical of Cardinal Parolin, Secretary of State, who negotiated the deal with China: “the Vatican is helping the government, surrendering, giving everything into their hands,” he said. “People under 18 years of age are not allowed into churches, not allowed in any religious activity.

Christmas is forbidden, in the whole country. Even the bible should be re-translated, according to the Communist orthodoxy.”

N E WS

POPE MONITOR KEEPING UP WITH POPE FRANCIS POPE FRANCIS’ RESPONSE TO AMAZON SYNOD After many months of prayer and careful reflection on the discussions of the Special Synod of Bishops held in Rome from October 6-27, to explore the challenges and opportunities posed by ministering with the peoples of the Amazon region, Pope Francis issued his response on February 2, the Solemnity of the Presentation. It takes the form of a lengthy, and often poetic, Apostolic Exhortation, entitled Querida Amazonia, from its opening words: “The beloved Amazon region stands before the world in all its splendour, its drama and its mystery.”

The Amazon region is not just an area in central Brazil but it is “a multinational and interconnected whole, a great biome (a naturally occurring habutat of flora and fauna) shared by nine countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Surinam, Venezuela and the territory of French Guiana. He makes it clear that he is not merely addressing the people of these countries, but the whole world, “to help awaken their affection and concern for that land which is also ‘ours,’ and to invite them to value it and acknowledge it as a sacred mystery.”

In visionary and poetic terms, he describes his ‘Dream for the Amazon’: “I dream of an Amazon region that fights for the rights of the poor, the original peoples and the least of our brothers and sisters, where their voices can be heard and their dignity advanced. I dream of an Amazon region that can preserve its distinctive cultural riches, where the beauty of our humanity shines forth in so many varied ways. I dream of an Amazon region that can jealously preserve its overwhelming natural beauty and the superabundant life teeming in its rivers and forests. I dream of Christian communities capable of generous commitment, incarnate in the Amazon region, and giving the Church new faces with Amazonian features.” Each chapter of the exhortation unpacks the elements of the dream. It is important to read the exhortation in the context of the Holy Father’s passionate concern for social justice and care for the human environment.

Much of the initial comment on Querida Amazonia was driven more by what Pope Francis did not say. One of the topics that had been raised by some bishops concerned the availability of the Eucharist to communities without a priest, and raised the question of the possible ordination of mature married men who exercised positions of leadership in their communities, removing in their case the obligation to celibacy. For many in the Western media, priestly celibacy was the only question raised at the synod. Querida Amazonia does even not mention the word ‘celibacy’. Does this mean that the Holy Father has ignored the bishops’ request? Not necessarily, but it does mean that he does not consider this document as the best way in which to explore a question which might be deeply divisive in the universal Church. It was also Pope Francis’ way of calling the whole Church back to the need to be concerned about the earth.

POPE VISITS RELICS OF ‘SANTA CLAUS’

The pope prays before the relics of St. Nicholas of Bari

During a short visit to the southern Italian city of Bari, Pope Francis visited the basilica that is home to the relics of St Nicholas. The reason for his visit to Bari was to attend the final gathering of an international gathering of bishops from around the Mediterranean organised by the Italian Episcopal Conference. It was his second visit to the city. The first was in July 2018, for a meeting of Catholic and Orthodox bishops, the first since the Great Schism of 1054.

The meeting was attended by more than 50 bishops from 19 Mediterranean countries including North Africa and the Middle East. Its theme was 'Mediterranean, Frontier of Peace'. In the course of his address to the bishops, Pope Francis denounced “the serious sin of hypocrisy” committed by many countries,” who at international conferences and meetings talk about peace and then sell weapons to countries that are at war". He also drew attention to the plight of refugees in the region, including those fleeing from war or who have left their homelands in search of a humanly dignified life. “The number of these brothers and sisters – forced to abandon their loved ones and their lands, and to face conditions of extreme insecurity – has risen as a result of spreading conflicts and increasingly dramatic environmental and climatic conditions.” The pope called on the bishops to see the “cemetery” of the Mediterranean Sea as “a place of future resurrection” for the entire region.

Pope Francis greets pilgrims after he met with bishops from 19 Mediterranean countries

7

WOMEN OF THE SPIRIT A SERIES OF WOMEN SAINTS AND MYSTICS SIMONE WEIL 1909–1943

8

Born on February 3, 1909 Simone Weil grew up in a highly cultured and secular Jewish Parisian environment. Two of her college contemporaries were the philosophers Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. After graduating with first place in philosophy, she began teaching in girls’ schools, encouraging her students to develop their own interests. Her working life alternated between teaching jobs and manual work in factories. Acting upon her own radical philosophical commitment to justice and humane working conditions, Weil joined the demonstrations of radical trade unionists. Later, she distanced herself from Marxist ideology.

Working alongside other factory workers, engaged in heavy manual work, Weil experienced the sheer exhaustion of tedious and repetitive work. Yet it was on the basis of this experience that she began to develop her spirituality and mysticism. Monotony and manual labour were stark reminders of the embodied nature of spirituality. Attention to what needs to be done now is the practice of discerning what God requires of us in this very moment.

Weil’s faith was a faith of not-knowing. She is of particular interest to those who struggle with their faith. There is much to learn from a mystic who advocates love of Christ as a recognition of God’s presence in the suffering world, while longing to live only in and through God. Beliefs, ideas and concepts have no place in such mystical yearning. Of course, this is not to suggest that faith and intellectual ideas are at odds. Intellectual ideas ‘exist’ in time, while faith exists ‘outside’ or ‘beyond’ time. Prayer and contemplation lead the person of faith away from the heaviness of time lived by the clock into the joy and lightness of God’s eternal ‘time’. As humans we are born to think. Thinking is the burden of human existence. To be lost in our thoughts is to believe that we are the centre of our own tiny universes, that what we think, how we feel, who we believe we are, is all that matters. Weil advocates the freedom of the mystic exhorting her readers to relinquish the past and the future to the ‘necessity’ of the now, to do what needs to be done, what God is calling us to do, at this very moment.

This requires paying attention. For Weil, attention is not an act of the will, but rather a gift of grace. The only effort required is, in fact, no effort at all, since it is simply an act of surrender.

Attention is a surrender of the will to God. It is an openness to discerning God’s will for us.

Attention is the same thing as love. Pure attention is pure prayer.

Simone Weil distanced herself from her Judaic heritage, to embrace instead the ‘hidden’ God she discovered in Catholicism. She had her first mystical experience in 1938, writing “Christ himself came down and took possession of me.” She never formally converted to Catholicism, preferring to remain on the border lands of faith. Weil’s God was an absent God, accessible only through the depths of contemplative prayer, a prayer based upon acknowledging what God requires of the pray-er in the moment. There are some similarities between Weil’s understanding of attention to the present moment and the contemporary mindfulness movement, the main difference of course being the non-theistic Buddhist basis of mindfulness.

Simone Weil was a prolific writer. She wrote essays, book reviews, and articles, but no books. To study her work is to attempt to gather all these fragments together into a cohesive whole. Weil never converted to Catholicism because of her inherent distrust of systematic collectives which, she believed, tend towards rigidity and close-mindedness. Weil developed a spirituality built upon a felt sense of truth and love experienced through the deep surrender of attention to the present moment. Her understanding of a 'catholic' Christianity was based on her deeply-held faith in Christ experienced through the grace of attention.

Simone Weil died of tuberculosis on August 24, 1943. Her short life was dedicated to love of God and love of suffering humanity, both of which demanded a decrease in self-centredness, what she termed “de-creation”, and a simultaneous increase in contemplative attention.

Edith Ó Nualláin REALITY APRIL 2020

Reality Volume 85. No. 3 April 2020 A Redemptorist Publication ISSN 0034-0960 Published by The Irish Redemptorists, St Joseph's Monastery, St Alphonsus Road, Dundalk County Louth A91 F3FC Tel: 00353 (0)1 4922488 Web: www.redcoms.org Email: sales@redcoms.org (With permission of C.Ss.R.)

Editor Brendan McConvery CSsR editor@redcoms.org Design & Layout David Mc Namara CSsR Sales & Marketing Claire Carmichael ccarmichael@redcoms.org Accounts Dearbhla Cooney accounts@redcoms.org Printed by W&G Baird Printers, Belfast Photo Credits Shutterstock, Catholic News Agency, Trócaire,

REALITY SUBSCRIPTIONS Through a promoter (Ireland only) €20 or £18 Annual Subscription by post: Ireland €25 or £20 UK £30 Europe €40 Rest of the world €50 Please send all payments to: Redemptorist Communications, St Joseph's Monastery, St Alphonsus Road, Dundalk County Louth A91 F3FC ADVERTISING Whilst we take every care to ensure the accuracy and validity of adverts placed in Reality, the information contained in adverts does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Redemptorist Communications. You are therefore advised to verify the accuracy and validity of any information contained in adverts before entering into any commitment based upon them.

When you have finished with this magazine, please pass it on or recycle it. Thank you.

REDEMPTORIST COMMUNICATIONS St Joseph's Monastery, Dundalk, County Louth A91 F3FC Tel: 00353 (0)1 4922488 Email: sales@redcoms.org Web: www.redcoms.org

Promoters: We keep all of our promoters in our prayers and thank them for their loyal service in selling Reality.

We remember in our prayers sick and deceased promoters and their families.

REFLECTIONS Everyone walked from the top of the Mount of Olives back to Jerusalem, singing hymns and repeating “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” All the children, even those too young to walk, were carried by their parents on their shoulders, all of them bearing branches, some of palms and some of olives.

EGERIA (FOURTH CENTURY PILGRIM TO JERUSALEM)

The washing of the feet and the sacrament of the Eucharist are two expressions of one and the same mystery of love entrusted to the disciples, so that, Jesus says, “as I have done… so also must you do."

(Jn 13:15).

ST JOHN PAUL II

When you look at the Crucifix, you understand how much Jesus loved you then. When you look at the Sacred Host you understand how much Jesus loves you now.

ST TERESA OF CALCUTTA

Christmas and Easter can be subjects for poetry, but Good Friday, like Auschwitz, cannot. The reality is so horrible it is not surprising that people should have found it a stumbling block to faith.

WH AUDEN

Easter was when Hope in person surprised the whole world by coming forward from the future into the present.

NT WRIGHT

We ask that streams of Easter light might flow into the intimacy and privacy of our hearts this morning, to heal us and encourage us and enable us to make again a new beginning.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

If there had been no Judas, Peter would be the great betrayer. It is only because he stands in the framework of a still greater betrayal that we find a thousand excuses for him and for the faults of the Church continuing and occurring over and over again.

In this sublime hour, therefore, he calls all his children to the pulpit of the Cross, and every word he says to them is set down for the purpose of an eternal publication and an undying consolation.

VENERABLE FULTON SHEEN

ADRIENNE VON SPEYER (SWISS DOCTOR AND MYSTIC)

On Good Friday the SS found some pretext to punish 60 priests with an hour on "the tree." That is the mildest camp punishment.

They tie a man's hands together behind his back, palms facing out and fingers pointing backward. Then they turn his hands inwards, tie a chain around his wrists and hoist him up by it. His own weight twists his joints and pulls them apart. Several of the priest who were hung up last year never recovered and died. If you don't have a strong heart, you don't survive it. Many have a permanently crippled hand.

Death is still there, to be sure and we still face it and someday it will come and take us. But it is our whole faith that by His own death Christ changed the very nature of death, made it a passage – a "Passover," a "Pascha"– into the Kingdom of God, transforming the tragedy of tragedies into the ultimate victory.

ALEXANDER SCHMEMAN (ORTHODOX THEOLOGIAN)

JEAN BERNARD (PRIEST PRISONER IN

Like a great waterwheel, the liturgical year goes on relentlessly irrigating our souls, softening the ground of our hearts, nourishing the soil of our lives until the seed of the Word of God itself begins to grow in us, comes to fruit in us, ripens in us the spiritual journey of a lifetime.

DACHAU CAMP)

JOAN CHITTISTER

9

Are you prepared for Easter?

BRAND NEW EDITION for 2020

HOLY WEEK BOOKLET PALM SUNDAY AND EASTER TRIDUUM

Liturgy for Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday & Holy Saturday Includes the Passion Reading for Palm Sunday for Years A, B, and C Reflections for personal prayer or communal celebration

ONLY €0.80/£0.75 Per Copy plus P+P

BULK DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE

A guided Way of the Cross A selection of hymns and chants appropriate for the season Full 64 page colour design

TO ORDER:

ONLINE: www.redcoms.org EMAIL: sales@redcoms.org PHONE: 00353 (1) 4922 488 BULK DISCOUNTS: 10% 250-499 copies; 15% 500-999 copies; 20% 1,000+ copies

EDI TO R I A L UP FRONT BRENDAN McCONVERY CSsR

WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT THE AMAZON?

The

American mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz is famous for a question he once asked: “Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?” It was not a flippant remark, as he was exploring chaos theory, a rare branch of mathematics that deals with complex systems in the universe and how they might be related to one another – so that the slightest change, even something as unmeasurable as the flutter of a butterfly’s wings, can cause totally disproportionate effects thousands of miles away.

On the feast of the Presentation, February 2, Pope Francis published a lengthy document called Querida Amazonia (Beloved Amazon).

It is addressed “to the people of God” and “to all people of good will”. While papal documents are normally addressed to the bishops and faithful of the Catholic Church, St John XXIII was the first pope to use one to address the whole human community.

His 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terrris (Peace on Earth), was written at one of the chilliest times in the Cold War between East and West, but he was the pope who talked to everyone, receiving the son-in-law of the Soviet leader, despite decades of persecution of the Church in Russia. Some of Good Pope John’s successors have followed his example, including Pope Francis, who addressed his encyclical Laudato Si’ to believers and to all people of goodwill.

Pope Francis believes that everyone who calls the earth home must be concerned for its future, and no matter what their religious beliefs or lack thereof, politics, race or culture, must accept responsibility for its future in both the immediate present and in the longer term. Noting that Amazonia is made up of nine South American countries, he goes on: “I am addressing the present exhortation to the whole world. I am doing so to help awaken their affection and concern for that

land which is also ‘ours’, and to invite them to value it and acknowledge it as a sacred mystery.” The Amazon is ‘ours’ by virtue of our common humanity, just as our homeland is the homeland of all the peoples of the world and we cannot ignore the claim they have on us. Our care for the climate, our careful stewardship of our resources – whether water, mineral, agricultural, or even just the care for human culture – is part of the stewardship that was committed to human beings from the beginning of creation: “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all the living creatures that move on earth” (Gen 1:28). Mastering and subduing here do not mean the careless exploitation of the earth’s resource: rather, Israel’s priestly theologian who wrote these words saw human beings as continuing God’s careful nurturing of the human homeland.

For Pope Francis, care for the Amazon is also a matter of far-reaching social justice.

He rightly sees that the interests of the 16th and 17th century colonisers from Spain and Portugal in particular have been replaced by new colonising interests, often indeed indigenous to the lands they exploit.

These are especially the timber and mining industries that have stripped the forests and ravaged the earth. In their search for wealth, “they have expelled or marginalised the indigenous peoples, the river people and those of African descent, are provoking a cry that rises up to heaven: ‘Many are the trees/ where torture dwelt,/ and vast are the forests/ purchased with a thousand deaths.’

‘The timber merchants have members of parliament,/ while our Amazonia has no one to defend her…/ They exiled the parrots and the monkeys…/ the chestnut harvests will never be the same.’” Queridia Amazonia displays a passionate poetic imagination with many citations from the poets of the

region, such as those above – something rare in papal documents which are often dry, usually quoting earlier statements of the magisterium or the venerable Fathers of the Church.

Pope Francis is not concerned exclusively with Amazonia. He correctly points out that the healthy balance of our planet depends on similar regions such as the Congo basin or Borneo, three equatorial regions placed strategically in Africa, South America and Asia. They contain a dazzling diversity of woodlands on which rain cycles, climate balance, and a great variety of living beings also depend. They are great filters of carbon dioxide, which slows down global warming.

He points out that the failure to replace trees is turning this belt around the earth’s surface into a dry land. We do not know what resources, including natural curative plants and the abundance of plants and fish, might provide nutrition for humanity. The interest of a few powerful industries should not be considered more important than the good of the Amazon region and of humanity as a whole. If the only thing we can do is grow in awareness of the importance of the far-away Amazon, at least let us do that so that we can understand the implications of a growing Brazilian beef trade that strips the forests to make grazing grounds for cattle.

Brendan McConvery CSsR Editor

11

C OVE R STO RY

12

REALITY APRIL 2020

Consummatum Est THE VICTORY CRY OF THE DYING JESUS THE STORY OF HOW A FRESCO OF THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST BY BLESSED FRA ANGELICO WAS LOST FOR CENTURIES, REDISCOVERED AND RESTORED TO ITS FORMER GLORY. 13

BY MICHAEL DUNLEAVY OP

Fra

Angelico’s fresco of the Crucified Christ in the Chapter Room in San Domenico di Fiesole is accepted as one of his earliest paintings and is datable to c.

1423. The Observant Dominican Convent of San Domenico was founded in 1406 by Blessed John Dominici, and it was here that Fra Angelico entered the Order about the year 1420.

After the church and choir, the Chapter Room – Capitolo – was one of the most important locations in a Dominican

priory. It was the room where the new friars were clothed in the Dominican habit and professed their religious vows.

The community gathered here to elect their superiors and make crucial decisions regarding the administration of the convent.

The daily 'Chapter of Faults' was held in this room, and commenced with a reading from a chapter of Scripture or the Rule. Following a 'public confession' of failings, particularly against the Rule and Constitutions, the friar was granted mercy and forgiveness. When Fra

Angelico presented himself to join the order in the Chapter Room in Fiesole, he was asked by the superior: “What do you seek?” and his response was, “God’s mercy and yours”.

Later as prior of San Domenico, he presided over the Chapter, seated under the Crucified Christ, which was painted by his own hand.

LOSS OF THE FRESCO This monumental fresco boasts a 'colourful' and unique history. In the early 1500s, half a century after the death of Fra Angelico,

C OVE R STO RY

the friars in Fiesole initiated major refurbishment of the church and choir. As part of the renovations, the Chapter Room was abandoned and converted into an ospizio – a room or parlour where visitors were received. The fresco of the Crucified Christ was painted over with whitewash, and remained concealed for over 300 years.

they returned to San Domenico in 1879.

For centuries, the friars in San Domenico had attempted to locate the Chapter Room with a fresco painted by Fra Angelico, which was recorded in the convent’s original Chronicle and cited by Vasari in his Life of Fra Angelico. Following careful research undertaken by one of the friars, the ancient Capitolo was unearthed, and after meticulous removal of layers of overpaint, the fresco eventually emerged from beneath the white surface. The extraordinary rediscovery of Fra Angelico’s The Crucified Christ was reported in the periodical The New Florentine Observer on July 19, 1885. The author described how “the friar continued daily in the hope that he would find Angelico’s Christ under the whitewash of the original wall, and, indeed,

The fresco of the Crucified Christ was painted over with whitewash, and remained concealed for over 300 years 14

Despite the Napoleonic and subsequent Italian suppression of Catholic religious houses in the 19th century, the friars were able to repurchase their convent, which had been converted into a series of private apartments. Having regained possession

The monastery of San Domenico di Fiesole in 1875

REALITY APRIL 2020

his masterpiece ultimately appeared in a beautiful state of conservation. It seemed as if it had been hidden for just a few years rather than centuries.” What is remarkable about the story is, because Angelico’s fresco lay concealed beneath the whitewash, it survived two suppressions. Moreover, when the friars were seeking to regain possession of the convent, the owners requested extra money for the inclusion of two frescoes by Fra Angelico – The Madonna Enthroned with Ss. Dominic and Thomas Aquinas, and The Crucifixion with Our Lady, St. John the Evangelist and St. Dominic. The friars did not have the extra cash, and, regrettably, the frescoes were detached from the walls and subsequently sold. The Madonna Enthroned is now in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, while the Crucifixion is in the Musée du Louvre in Paris.

San Domenico di Fiesole today

A UNIQUE CRUCIFIXION? The Fiesole fresco is unique within Angelico’s oeuvre, as it is the only Crucifixion where the dead Christ is depicted. Angelico recalled the precise moment of Jesus’ death as recorded

by St John the Evangelist (Jn 19:30). A further exception to Angelico’s depictions of the Crucified Christ is that Christ’s head is bowed straight down and not inclined to the right or left. Apart from the nails in his hands and feet, there are no visible instruments of the Passion, however, the crown of thorns and the five wounds are evident on his body.

Furthermore, this is the only Crucifixion scene

by Fra Angelico, where the figure of Christ is depicted alone. He did not include Jesus’ Mother Mary, St John the Evangelist, Mary Magdalene or St Dominic. Angelico’s use of shifting perspective, which is highlighted by the dark background, meant that each friar had the same view of Jesus on the cross.

From his seat in the Chapter Room he could gaze in faith and contemplate the Saviour, from whom mercy and compassion flow. In 1443 Nicholas of Cusa wrote a treatise on the 'Vision of God' De visione Dei, in which he examined the process of looking. The treatise focused on how human beings look at God, and how God looks at the world. It was written specifically for the abbot and monks of the Benedictine monastery of Tegernsee in Bavaria. In order to substantiate his theory, Nicholas sent the monks an icon of Christ, and explained how the icon appears to fix its gaze on the viewer, wherever he stand.

He encouraged the monks to engage with and gaze at the image.

Hang this icon somewhere, e.g., on the north wall; and you brothers stand around it, at a short distance from it, and observe it. Regardless of the place from which each of you looks at it,

The head bowed down

The nails – the only visible signs of the Passion

Although Jesus hangs dead on the Cross, a brilliant light emanates from his body. It is the Light that God sent into the world in the person of his only Son, who is the true “Light of the World”

15

C OVE R STO RY

16

The Madonna Enthroned with Ss Dominic and Thomas Aquinas was also painted by Fra Angelico for the convent of Fiesole. It is now in the Hermitage Museum of Saint Petersburg

each will have the impression that he alone is being looked at by it. …

Now, O brother contemplative, draw near to the icon of God and situate yourself first in the east, then in the south, and finally in the west. The icon’s gaze looks at you in equal measure in every region and does not desert you no matter where you go. Therefore, a speculative consideration will be occasioned in you, and you will be aroused and will say: O Lord, by a certain sense-experience I now behold, in this image of You, Your providence.

REALITY APRIL 2020

For if You do not desert me, who am the least of all men, then You will never desert anyone. You are present to each and every thing – just as being, without which things cannot exist, is present to each and every thing. For you who are the Absolute Being of all things are present to each thing as if You were concerned about no other thing at all. …

“I GAZE AT HIM, AND HE GAZES AT ME” Angelico’s Crucified Christ was already in situ when Nicholas of Cusa composed his

treatise. Angelico, however, was familiar with contemporary guidelines regarding single-point linear perspective as developed by Leon Battista Alberti; and, accordingly, applied these to his paintings. The friars who gathered in the Chapter Room for the various community functions were unified at the foot of the cross; and, as they gazed in faith at the dead, but illuminated body of Christ, they were assured of the reality of God’s mercy towards all of humanity. Today, the viewer stands beneath the Crucified Christ still in its original location, and like the friars of former times is invited by Fra Angelico to participate in and contemplate the Passion and Death of Christ our Saviour.

As St John the Evangelist narrates, when Jesus had taken the vinegar, he cried out, Consummatum est! – “It is finished!” Then, he bowed his head, and “gave up his spirit”. Although Jesus hangs dead on the cross, a brilliant light emanates from his body. It is the Light that God sent into the world in the person of his only Son, who is the true “Light of the World”. As Jesus himself proclaimed: “I am the Light of the World, anyone who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn 8:12).

As the viewer beholds and glorifies the Crucified Christ, his final words “It is finished” come to mind. Accordingly, he or she is challenged to pose a question, “what is finished?” St Catherine of Siena in a letter penned in 1396 to Cardinal Orsini comments on Jesus’ last words – Consummatum est!. For Catherine, Jesus’ exclamation is not a cry of sorrow. On the contrary, it is a cry of jubilant joy; a cry, which underscores the promise of salvation for humanity: … Then he joyously shouts, “It is finished!”

Yes, those seem to be sorrowful words, but they were words of joy to that soul aflame and consumed in the fire of divine charity, the soul of the incarnate Word, God’s Son.

It is as if the gentle Jesus wanted to say, “I have completely fulfilled what was written of me. Fulfilled too is my painful desire to redeem the human race. I am happy, exultant, that I have finished this suffering.

I have fulfilled the commission given me by my Father, a commission I so longed to accomplish.”

The Crucifixion and death of Jesus is not the conclusion of the story of salvation, rather, it is the beginning of a new narrative for the human race; a narrative, which initiates the story of humanity’s freedom and liberation from sin. We acknowledge that freedom when we proclaim

the mystery of our faith at Mass: “Save us Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free”. In seeking an answer to the question, “What is finished?”, we should return to the beginning, and we will find the answer in the opening paragraph of the Prologue of St John’s Gospel. Angelico’s fresco of Christ Crucified presents the Saviour as the Light of the World.

In contrast to the dark background of Calvary, the lone figure of Jesus Christ illumines the scene, because He is the Light that darkness could not overpower.

In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Praying the Rosary

Through him all things came into being, and not one thing came into being except through him.

What has come into being in him was life, life that was the light of men; and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it.

(Jn 1:1-5)

Fr Michael Dunleavy OP is an Irish Dominican friar. He has written his doctoral thesis on the work of Fra Angelico, entitled Epiphanies of Beauty.

Just

€3

Plus P+P

MEDITATING THE GOSPEL STORY WITH THE MOTHER OF THE LORD

By Fr George Wadding CSsR Archbishop Fulton Sheen said that when we pray the rosary in a prayerful, contemplative manner, it lifts us into a world where “we see and enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known.” Fr George Wadding CSsR is well-known for his thoughtful but simple and imaginative style of writing. In this little book, he invites us to explore the twenty scenes from the story of Jesus our Redeemer that make up the Joyful, Sorrowful, Luminous and Glorious mysteries of the Rosary. Walking and praying with Mary, we accompany the Lord along his way. This beautifully illustrated book is for beginners, as well as those who have been praying the rosary for many years. It can be used by the family or a prayer group. It is ideal for those who wish to pray the rosary tranquilly, resting in the mysteries, like Mary, ‘who pondered them in her heart.’ It is well-bound but still small enough to slip into a handbag or a pocket, and the colourful images for each decade will long stay in the memory.

May God’s Spirit be with all who seek comfort in its pages.

To Order:

ONLINE: www.redcoms.org EMAIL: sales@redcoms.org PHONE: 00353 (1) 4922 488 Redemptorist Communications, St Joseph’s Monastery, Dundalk, Co.Louth A91 F3FC

COM M E N T WITH EYES WIDE OPEN JIM DEEDS

FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT

THE MORNING LIGHT OF THE RISING SUN IS SO MAGIC BECAUSE IT SPRINGS OUT OF DARKNESS. IT IS THE SAME WITH THE MOMENTS OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT IN OUR OWN LIVES.

I

have an interest in photographing scenes with both darkness and light in them. I’m attracted, in particular, to photographing sunrise.

I am often to be found at dawn in the local parks with my smartphone, gazing in wonder at God’s great morning light show. For a long time I thought it was only the light that I was interested in– I delight in the reds and purples and golds of the sun’s light. However, over the years I have come to realise that the light I love is only so vivid because it bursts out from the darkness. The explosion of a winter sunrise is only so stunning because of the black still in the sky and the darkness of the land below.

The reds and golds of a summer sunrise are framed perfectly by the darkness of night’s end. While I love the light, I cannot ignore the darkness that throws it into sharp focus by contrast.

LIFE’S SUNBURSTS AND SHADES Our lives, too, are a mixture of darkness and light. The darkness comes in the times of worry, fear, death and loss, for example. Darkness is not the whole story, though. There is also the light– times of love, joy, mercy, forgiveness, healing and relief.

At this time of the year, as I walk my dogs around the local park, chasing a perfect sunrise photograph, I find myself reflecting on two other people who were walking and their experience of both darkness and light in their lives. I am referring here to the two followers of Jesus who found themselves walking on the road to Emmaus from Jerusalem (you can find them in Luke 24:13-35). We join

them at the start of their journey.

They are running away. They are getting out of dodge and no mistake!

Things had gone wrong as far as they could see; Jesus was dead and the story was over. They were in despair and it was time to get out of the danger of Jerusalem and find some safety elsewhere. They were indeed in a time of darkness.

As they travelled along in despair, who joined them but the risen Jesus.

However, "something kept them from recognising him" (Luke 24:16). I often wonder what that "something" was? Could it have been their despair that kept them from recognising him? Could it be that when we are in despair ourselves it gets more difficult to recognise God at work in our lives? However, encounter him they did and he gave them what they needed at that time: he explained to them why "the Christ had to suffer in order to enter into his glory"(Luke 24:26). An encounter with Christ will meet the deepest needs we have, it seems.

Towards the end of the story we see that Jesus ate at the table with his two friends and in the breaking of the bread they recognised him.

And once they did, their eyes were opened – they saw the light! – and they were able to look back and say, "did not our hearts burn within us when he spoke to us" (Luke 24:32). It was only in taking time to look back that they were able to see the light of Jesus shining into their dark times. How like us they were! It is very often the case for many of us that, unless we take time to pause and reflect, we can miss the reality of God at play in our lives.

PRAYING THE STORY Now, we know one of the people in our story was named as Cleopas.

The other is not named. Perhaps this allows us to imagine ourselves on the road to Emmaus too. So, why not let’s take a moment and reflect on our lives as an Emmaus journey from darkness to light.

Where have the dark times been?

Call them to mind, name them, but don’t allow yourself to get too caught up in them or to begin replaying them.

Acknowledging the dark times, I invite you to give them over to God in prayer – however you understand God and prayer – knowing that God is with us in the dark times, feeling our pain and holding us in love, mercy and compassion.

Come to know one or two things you might do in the coming week to work against the darkness in your life and the lives of others.

Take another moment now and reflect on where the times of light have been. Call them to mind, name them. This time, do allow yourself to get caught up in them again and savour them. See them as moments where you have encountered the Risen Lord and he has shone his light into your life and the lives of others.

Acknowledging these light times, I invite you to give thanks to God for them. They are indeed a gift to be recognised, treasured and built upon.

Come to know one or two things you could do this week to bring more light to your life and the lives of others.

Life is a journey framed by experiences of darkness and light for us all. Let us pray for those experiencing times of darkness.

May they experience times of light.

And may the light of the Risen Jesus shine in all of our lives and all over the world.

Belfast man Jim Deeds is a poet, author, pastoral worker and retreat-giver working across Ireland.

19

LI T U RGY

20

POSTURES AND GESTURES OF HOLY WEEK OUR LITURGIES ARE RICH IN MOVEMENT AND GESTURE AND WE CARRY THEM OUT WITH EASE. BUT IS IT TOO EASY? HOW CONSCIOUS ARE WE OF THE INTRINSIC MEANING OF THESE GESTURES AND POSTURES? DO THEY HELP US TO ENTER INTO A CLOSER RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD? OR DO WE STAND, SIT, KNEEL BECAUSE THAT’S JUST WHAT WE’VE ALWAYS DONE?

BY MARIA HALL

I

am a big Downton Abbey fan! Back in the day, Sunday evening viewings were a real treat and I believe there are rumours of a new series.

I love the gripping storylines, the costumes, the romanticism of a bygone age and the classic quotes of the Dowager Duchess who never failed to amuse: “Principles are like prayers; noble of course, but awkward at a party!”

Lord Grantham was less known for his oneliners, but one comment he made was less than complimentary! He wasn’t keen on going to his own grandson’s Catholic christening: “ All that bobbing up and down! I went to a Mass in Rome once. It was more like a gymnastic display.”

REALITY APRIL 2020

In Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict warns that without understanding, liturgies will become merely ritual. Everything in liturgy has a meaning, nothing in liturgy is done by accident!

We all need ongoing formation in the liturgy to grow and deepen our relationship with Christ; focusing on the postures and gestures contained in the rich liturgies of Holy Week would be a fresh way to approach and help us see our worship in a new light.

fourth century when the first large churches were built. Modelled on the secular basilicas of the day, the central aisle, formerly used for the emperor to process down in all his

Everything in liturgy has a meaning, nothing in liturgy is done by accident!

PROCESSIONS Christians have been processing since the

grandeur, became the processional route for the bishop, presbyters, deacons, acolytes, readers and choir. Each of the liturgies of Holy Week has a significant procession; Palms on Palm Sunday, Holy Oils and the Blessed

Sacrament on Holy Thursday, Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday, and the Paschal Candle on Holy Saturday. Then there are the usual processions of Entrance, Gospel, Offering of the Gifts and Communion.

In her great fourth-century account of the Holy Week liturgies in Jerusalem, a pilgrim called Egeria gives an account of the Palm Sunday procession which took place in the early evening: The bishop and all the people rise from their places and start off on foot down from the summit of the Mount of Olives. All the people go before him with palms and antiphons all the time repeating, ‘Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.’ Everyone is carrying branches, either palm or olive and they accompany the bishop in the very way that the people did when once they went down with the Lord.

In the Middle Ages, a life-size wooden donkey carrying Christ became part of the procession.

Drama and props help us recreate the event, making us a people of joy, celebrating and honouring Christ. But the words of the Gospel bring the past into the present; we are both commemorating and re-living. The short journey of the procession also mirrors the big journey of life that we are all on; we pray for the strength to live a good Christian life as we journey in hope towards eternal life.

The Holy Thursday procession of the Blessed Sacrament also evolved during the Middle Ages. Initially the Sacrament was moved to a place of reservation without ceremony. A 12th -century pontifical says that a junior cardinaldeacon took the Lord in a pyx to a suitable place, walking under a canopy and led by cross and candles. The Pange Lingua written

by Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century for the feast of Corpus Christi, became the hymn of choice for the Holy Thursday procession.

When we sing it today (in Latin or English) we are joining with the voices of our predecessors through the centuries.

This is a procession we watch; servers, candles and incense all add to the drama which helps us immerse ourselves in the solemnity of the liturgy.

STANDING Standing is the oldest posture of prayer. It dates back to the Old Testament. When Christian worship moved from the house church to formal buildings, standing at Mass became the norm till about the time of the Reformation when pews were introduced.

When we stand, it is a sign that we are ready; to worship, to listen to the Word of God, to profess our faith, to pray, to receive a blessing.

When we stand for the General Intercessions on Good Friday (which date back to at least the fifth century) or the renewal of Baptismal Promises, we are reminded that we are praying and professing our beliefs together as a worshipping community. Whenever we stand at Mass, we are standing before God, prepared, alert and ready!

SITTING In the Early Church, sitting was the normal position for preaching and teaching. The bishop would always sit to speak to the assembly, hence the throne (cathedra) being an important symbol of his office. When we sit, we should try not to treat it as a rest or a break. We sit to listen and contemplate, such as the first part of the Liturgy of the Word, the homily and the Offering of the Gifts.

But we are not observers! In a rested position, we can concentrate and ponder on the words we hear and the actions we see.

We have additional opportunities to do this during the presentation of the oils on Holy Thursday and the initiation ceremonies on Holy Saturday.

KNEELING Kneeling was a sign of humility, sorrow, and petition. When people approached the emperor to ask favours, they did so kneeling.

So much did it became associated with penance and repentance that the Council of Nicaea (AD 325) banned kneeling on Sundays and during the Easter season because it wasn’t an appropriate posture for celebration!

21

April Forgiveness The key to happiness in our world today.

Cost: €75 Sat.18 10am – 4pm John Lonergan May Mary in Art Mary in the faith of the artist Cost: €75 Sat.2 10am – 4pm Michael Dunleavy OP

Ennismore Retreat Centre

Mary and the Challenge of Jesus Coming to know Mary through Jesus Cost: €75 Sat.9 10am – 4pm Benedict Hegarty OP

St Dominic’s

REDEMPTORIST

Ennismore Retreat Centre is set in 30 acres of wood, field and garden overlooking Lough Mahon on the River Lee. It’s the ideal place for some time-out, reflection and prayer.

Full day retreat €75 (including lunch) Booking is essential.

Mary in May

At Ennismore

www.ennismore.ie

PARISH MISSIONS

May (continued) Mary’s Song The Magnificat, a window into Mary’s soul Cost: €75 Sat.16 10am – 4pm Stephen Cummins OP

Mary in the expeience of Women Mary and today’s women.

Cost: €75 Sat.30 10am – 4pm Sr Renee Breslin and friends

021–4502520

info@ennismore.ie

Breaking the Word in April 2020

Please pray for the Redemptorist Teams who will preach the Word and for God’s People who will hear the Word proclaimed this month in:

Staplestown, Kildare (18th-26th April 2020) Parish mission preached by Laurence Gallagher CSsR and Clare Gilmore The details above are accurate at the time of printing. If you have any views, comments or even criticisms about Redemptorist preaching, we would love to hear from you. If you are interested in a mission or novena in your parish, please contact us for further information. And please keep all Redemptorist preachers in your prayers.

Fr Laurence Gallagher CSsR, Email: largallagher@gmail.com Tel: +353 61 315099

LI T U R GY

Kneeling at Mass is associated with reverence, worship and adoration; we kneel for the Eucharistic Prayer and before receiving Communion. During Holy Week we kneel at the transfer of the Blessed Sacrament on Holy Thursday, for silent prayer during the Prayers of Intercession, the Showing (unveiling) of the Cross on Good Friday and the Litany of the Saints at the Easter Vigil. It is also traditional to kneel for a short while during the Passion after the words "He gave up his spirit". The entire assembly offers prayers of sorrow and sadness but also thanks and praise.

SIGN AND VENERATION OF THE CROSS The Sign of the Cross has been used from the

first days of the Church. In the second Century, Tertullian wrote; At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign.

This sign identifies us as Christians: it sums up who we are and what we believe. Romano Guardini calls it the holiest of all signs, and gives us the best advice which would be perfect for a focus during Lent and Holy Week: Make a large cross, taking time, thinking

what you do. Let it take your whole being– body, soul, mind, will, thoughts, feelings... consciously feeling how it includes the whole of us, our thoughts , our attitudes, our body and soul, every part of us at once, how it consecrates us and sanctifies us.

The Veneration of the Cross dates back to the time of Helena (fourth century) who is reputed to have discovered the true cross upon which Christ died. Egeria wrote a detailed account of the Good Friday liturgy in Jerusalem, where some pilgrims were less than reverent: The faithful come up one by one to the table. They stoop down over it, kiss the wood and move on. But one occasion one of them bit off a piece of the holy wood and stole it away, and for this reason the deacons stand round and keep watch in case anyone dares to do the same again!

Kneeling or bowing at the cross, we offer an intimate, unique and powerful gesture, the only kiss offered by the people in the liturgy, to the Lord who died for our sins.

PROSTRATION At the start of the Good Friday liturgy, the sanctuary is bare. This sets the tone for a stark and solemn liturgy. It begins with the most dramatic posture of all, when the priest and deacon lie face down in front of the altar for a short while and we all pray in silence. Dating before the sixth century, prostration expresses deep sorrow and reverence. It needs no words. We kneel as a church in mourning and reflect on Christ’s sacrifice for us.

A NEW GESTURE A change in the latest edition of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal invites us to make a bow immediately before we receive Communion. This is a simple bow of the head made immediately before we receive. It doesn’t seem to have been universally adopted. It is a mark of deep respect for the Bread of Life and is especially fitting on Holy Thursday.

RESOURCES Antonio Donghi Words and Gestures in the Liturgy Romano Guardini Sacred Signs John Wilkinson Egeria’s Travels elementsofthecatholicmass.com Videos about processions and Communion

23

F E AT U R E

ST ALPHONSUS DE LIGUORI ON

The

Seven Last Words

POPULAR LENTEN DEVOTIONS HAVE OFTEN USED THE LAST WORDS OF JESUS FROM THE CROSS AS A WAY OF INCULCATING A DEEPER AWARENESS OF WHAT TOOK PLACE AT CALVARY. THESE REFLECTIONS ON THE 'SEVEN LAST WORDS' TAKE THE GOSPEL ACCOUNTS OF CHRIST'S PASSION AS THEIR POINT OF DEPARTURE AND ENCOURAGE AN ACTIVE USE OF THE IMAGINATION TO 24 ENVISION JESUS’ DEATH BEFORE OUR EYES. THE GOAL IS TO ENABLE US TO PLACE OURSELVES 'IN THE SCENE' SO THAT THE FINAL WORDS OF THE WORD-MADE-FLESH MIGHT HAVE THEIR FULL IMPACT.

THE SECOND WORD: “This day you will be with me in paradise.”

(Lk 23:43)

BY DENNIS J. BILLY CSsR

The

great value of this devotional exercise did not escape the notice of St Alphonsus, who always gave centre stage in his writings to the Passion and death of the Lord. He sees the seven last words as an especially helpful way of gaining access to the story of the crucified Lord. In 1773, he published a work entitled Considerations on the Passion of Jesus Christ, where he devoted an entire chapter to the topic. A look at his treatment of Jesus’ final words reveals a deep sensitivity to the spirituality of the Passion, one that invites us to share in a more intimate relationship with the suffering Saviour and the cross from which he hangs.

REALITY APRIL 2020

for those who persecute us. According to Alphonsus, Jesus includes all sinners in these words. He notes, however, that Jesus’ prayer is conditional, since those who resist the Holy Spirit ultimately close their hearts to God. He concludes his meditation with a heartfelt prayer to the Father to hear Jesus’ request for mercy and for the grace of true repentance. He ends his reflection with a prayer of thanksgiving for the great love for humanity that led Jesus to find and save what was lost.

THE FIRST WORD: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:34) For Alphonsus, Jesus’ first word from the cross reveals his loving tenderness. He establishes this claim by citing several commentators on Jesus’ prayer to the Father. For example, St Augustine remarks that, when praying in this way, Jesus was thinking not of the injuries that his enemies were inflicting upon him, but of the love that led him to shed his blood for them.

St Bernard says that Jesus does not forgive his enemies himself, but asks his Father to do so in order that we might learn to pray

Jesus addresses his second word from the cross to the repentant thief. To explain this passage, Alphonsus cites some more commentators. Arnold of Chartres, for example, speaks of the virtues exercised by this thief at the time of his death: “He believed, he repented, he confessed, he preached, he loved, he trusted, he prayed.”

St Augustine says the thief did not have the courage to ask for pardon before his confession. Only after his confession of guilt, was he able to cast off the burden of his sins and say, “Remember me in your kingdom.”

Alphonsus himself addresses the thief, telling him that he is fortunate to have been able to unite his death to the death of his Saviour. He then turns to the Lord in prayer and invites us to ask for the grace to do the same.

25

Jesus was thinking not of the injuries that his enemies were inflicting upon him, but of the love that led him to shed his blood for them

THE THIRD WORD: Woman, behold your son…Behold your mother.” (Jn 19:26-27) Jesus addresses his third word from the cross to his mother and to the beloved disciple.

With regard to Mary’s pain at the moment of Jesus’ death, Alphonsus says that it exceeded

all the pains a human heart could endure.

According to St Augustine, it was through her grief that she became the spiritual mother of all believers. St Bernard remarks that Mary was silent at this time because her great pain took away her power of speech. Alphonsus points out that, while looking upon her in her silent agony, Jesus entrusts the care

of his mother to his beloved disciple, who from that moment treats her as his own mother. By referring to John as “the beloved disciple”, Jesus wants us to understand that Mary is the mother of all believers. Alphonsus concludes his reflection by asking us to join him in turning to Mary in heartfelt prayer. We should ask Mary to intercede for us so that

F E AT U R E

THE FIFTH WORD: “I thirst.” (Jn 19:28) Jesus’ fifth word from the cross concerns his experience of thirst, which was both bodily and spiritual. The Gospels tell us that his bodily thirst came from his loss of blood in the garden, from his scourging and crowing with thorns in the hall of judgment, and finally from hanging on the cross. To explain Jesus’ spiritual thirst, Alphonsus cites two authorities. According to Blosius, it sprang from Jesus’ ardent desire to save humanity and to suffer still more in order to show his deep love for us. St Laurence Justinian, in turn, affirms this insight by stating that Jesus’ thirst came from “the fount of love”. Alphonsus concludes his reflection on Jesus' bodily and spiritual thirst with yet another heartfelt prayer: “O my Jesus! You have thus desired to suffer for me; and I, when my sufferings at all increase, become so impatient that I am insupportable both to others and to myself.”

He ends by inviting us to ask Jesus for help to be patient and resigned in the sicknesses and crosses that come our way.

26

THE SIXTH WORD: “It is consummated.” (Jn 19:30)

The Crucified Christ painted by St Alphonsus as an aid for Sermons on the Passion

we might obtain the graces of confidence in God’s love and holy perseverance. Such prayer encourages us to commend our souls to her care and to that of her Son. THE FOURTH WORD: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mt 27:46) Jesus addresses his fourth word from the cross to God. How could divinity abandon divinity? For Alphonsus, Jesus was not stripped of his divine glory, but only of that sensible relief that God gives his servants REALITY APRIL 2020

in times of suffering. He tells us that we can understand the Father’s action only in the light of Jesus’ free decision to take the sins of the world upon himself. Alphonsus invites us to unite our own experiences of desolation to what Jesus experienced in his death. He reminds us that Jesus sometimes hides himself from the souls he loves most, but always provides them with strong interior help. In the concluding meditation, Alphonsus invites us to ask Jesus to bless our souls with grace at times of need, especially at the hour of death.

Jesus’ sixth word from the cross is one of fulfilment. Before Jesus breathed his last, Alphonsus says that all the sacrifices of the old law, all the prayers of the patriarchs, all the prophecies regarding his life and death, and all the injuries he was predicted to suffer passed before his eyes. Seeing all of these prophecies fulfilled enabled him to utter the now famous words: “It is consummated.”

Alphonsus goes on to say that when we ourselves feel disturbed and moved to lose our patience through inward passions, or temptations, or persecution, we should turn our eyes to Jesus, who poured out all of his blood for our salvation. We will overcome our difficulties only by turning our eyes to our crucified Lord. The pains of the Lord Jesus should be ever before our eyes and should inspire us to join our sufferings to his. Alphonsus ends with a heartfelt prayer

wholly to us; we must do the same. He ends with an affirmation of his love for Jesus and asks Mary, his mother, for the grace to live and die faithful to her Son.

Mary’s pain at the moment of Jesus’ death exceeded all the pains a human heart could endure. to Jesus for the grace to serve and love him, and with a prayer to Mary for help to always be faithful to her Son.

THE SEVENTH WORD: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

(Lk 23:46) Jesus’ last words from the cross are a prayer to his Father in heaven. According to Alphonsus, the final words of Jesus on the cross should bring great comfort to us at the moment of death. In all things, Jesus our Saviour has gone before us and prepared a way for us.

Because of his passion and death, we need not be afraid of anything, not even death itself. Alphonsus concludes his treatment of Jesus' last words with a prayer to Jesus the Redeemer. He invites us to commend our souls to Jesus and asks for the help never to turn away from him. Jesus has given himself

Alphonsus invites us to unite our own experiences of desolation to what Jesus experienced in his death.

CONCLUSION In his Introduction to the Considerations, Alphonsus cites a number of saints and blesseds who speak at great length about the “book of the cross”. He is well aware that heartfelt meditation on the Passion and death of Jesus can teach us things not found in ordinary books. He sees the seven last words as an especially helpful way of gaining access to the story of the crucified Lord. Spoken by Jesus in his dying moments, these words sprang from his heart and were ultimately meant to find a place in our own.

Although they were spoken in a particular place and time, they have achieved universal significance and are to be numbered among the most sacred words ever uttered.

Alphonsus’ commentary on these words attempts to bridge the distance between Jesus’ heart and our own. Although it appears on the printed page and is sequestered away in a larger commentary on Jesus’ passion and death, it represents a determined effort on the Alphonsus’ part to venerate Jesus’ final words and to ensure that they find their rightful place in the inner sanctum of our hearts.

Note: This article is an abridged form of 'Alphonsus on the Seven Last Words', Spiritus Patris 29/1(2003): 12-16, a journal of the American Redemptorists.

Fr Dennis J. Billy CSsR is a Redemptorist of the Baltimore Province. Former professor of the history of moral theology and Christian spirituality at the Alphonsian Academy in Rome, he has written extensively on Redemptorist spirituality.

27

“I WAS A PRISONER AND YOU VISITED ME…” ALONG WITH HIS CONFRÈRES IN THE MONASTERY AT DUMAGUETE, FR COLM TAKES HIS TURN IN MINISTERING IN THE LOCAL PRISON

BY COLM MEANEY CSsR

Life 28

in a Filipino jail is not a pleasant experience, unless you belong to the rich; then, though your movements may be somewhat curtailed by four walls, you might as well be living in The Ritz, luxuries on all sides: air-conditioning (vital in this climate), food fit for a king, sleeping quarters fit for a Cleopatra, etc. But if you belong with the vast majority who are poor, living and dining conditions are definitely Spartan. With the draconian policies of our current callous president and his ill-named and ill-fated 'war on drugs', the numbers in the jails here have mushroomed, with serious over-crowding; as have the numbers being buried in the cemeteries, having being summarily executed by either the police or 'hit squads', both groups entirely indifferent to the rule of law and completely free from any legal repercussions. Welcome to The Wild East.

PRISON MINISTRY The provincial jail of Negros Oriental is five minutes’ walk from our monastery in Dumaguete, the capital of that province. One of the diocesan priests is chaplain there,

REALITY APRIL 2020

but we celebrate the Eucharist there twice a month. I have been celebrant a few times during my eight years in Dumaguete, but most of the time I spent in the hills of the diocese, conducting missions in various parishes.

The attendance at the Mass in the jail would be about 80 or 90 men and about a dozen women; that would be a small minority of the total number of inmates. The Mass is celebrated in a hall, open on all sides with minimum security and to allow any breeze to cool the place. Some of the prisoners are accused of killing, others of drug-related offences.

Most are waiting for the result of their initial hearings and probably expecting to be transferred to the national penitentiary in Manila. But they will have a long wait, as the legal system here moves at a very slow pace.

Many of the inmates are in their 20s or 30s, and almost all of the women are within that age bracket. On one occasion I noticed an elderly couple sitting near the front. I wondered were they brother and sister or spouses.

I asked one of the altar servers later

A typical scene of overcrowding in a Filipino prison

(also an inmate). He said that they were, in fact, a married couple, and so I presumed that the wife’s visit had coincided with the Eucharist, but I was mistaken. The husband was indeed the prisoner, but his wife was not simply visiting him.

Some time earlier, her husband had suffered a stroke in the jail.

With no resources for hospital treatment, he had made a partial recovery in the prison, but still needed constant assistance. His wife made a request to the warden: that she would live inside the jail so as to be able to care constantly for

her husband, and the warden had acquiesced. When I heard this I was amazed. I mean, usually people try to escape from prison; now here was someone volunteering to go to jail! I thought of those ancient vows: “in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, until death do us part”.

REDEMPTORISTS AND PRISON MINISTRY When the current provincial of the Irish Redemptorists, Dan Baragry, was here in the Philippines in the late1970s, he was active in the jail

ministry connected to one of our houses here in Mindanao (Southern Philippines). In Mindanao we have two houses, Davao in the south, and Iligan in the north. That’s where the jail ministry started. We had a paid lay worker, Victor, who would visit the jail regularly and try to deal with some of the inmates’ cases, working with lawyers to assist in processing the prisoners’ cases. It was truly a Redemptorist apostolate, following in the footsteps of our founder St Alphonsus, sent to the “most abandoned”, who engaged in prison ministry as a young priest in Naples.

I happened to be assigned to Iligan in 1996. The national 'Prison Awareness Sunday' was approaching. I spoke with Victor, and he spoke with the jail warden, who was a very decent man. We arranged that some of the prisoners would come to our church on 'Prison Awareness Sunday' and participate in the five Masses.

Going to the jail for a 'rehearsal', I went into the cell to speak with the prisoners who had been chosen to participate in the Masses. Even though I wasn’t a prisoner, when the cell door closed behind me, I had an

almost visceral reaction. You really feel trapped in that claustrophobic setting: no way out unless the key turns again in the lock. But I knew the prisoners, so I was fairly at ease.

We decided what would happen at the five Sunday Masses. They would do the singing at each Mass (one of them had composed some songs) and during the 'homily' I would 'interview' some of them, asking them about life in the jail, the good and the bad sides, what they had learned, etc. Whatever the wretched, hope-eroding conditions in the jail, I wished to highlight anything positive. And indeed, there were some gems of human kindness and creative thinking amidst the dross of the predictable abuse, corruption and apathy.

For example, there are many other groups also involved in ministering to the inmates. They organise projects which are really win-win: therapy for the prisoners to help reduce or redirect any violent impulses, and, at the same time, providing some muchneeded income for the prisoners.

Two of the popular activities are cross-stitch and making Christmas lanterns. Both products demand close attention to detail and the making of them becomes a calminducing, therapeutic activity. In Dumaguete, with the jail so near to our monastery, we actively sponsor the jail lanterns every December.

They are exhibited in the carpark and we encourage church-goers to buy them, and we buy some and display them in the monastery.

the day, they were tremendous! This was a rare opportunity for them to speak, and their various testimonies were very touching. As usual, many had been drawn into the world of drugs, either through hopeless addiction or as an alleviation from poverty. And now they are behind bars for the next 20 years of their short lives. The Masses were either in English or Cebuano, but at all the Masses I 'interviewed' the prisoner in Cebuano. The atmosphere was kind of electric as I introduced the singer and the speakers as 'prisoners'. They spoke truly from the heart about life in the jail, the bad sides as well as the good. The former would be gangs, violence, corruption among the guards, delays regarding their cases, etc. The latter would be the sense of camaraderie among themselves, the stories of a life changing for the better, etc.

They took part in the 6am and 7.30am Masses and later in the afternoon. The next Mass was at 10am. I asked the four prisoners if they would like to watch TV during the interval. With one voice, they said that they would prefer to sit at the front door of the monastery and just watch “life passing by”. It was such a novelty for them, having been accustomed in the jail, every day for years, to seeing the same thing: four walls, the bars, the exercise yard. Just to see people strolling or cycling along, children running about, houses, trees, the blue sky – so many ordinary things we take for granted – this was like a breath of fresh air for them.

PRISONERS AT MASS On the day itself, the jail van arrived at the monastery, with four prisoners and just one guard. We had rehearsed (roughly, not wordfor-word) what we would say: on

A native of Limerick city where he went to school in St Clement’s College, Fr Colm Meaney first went to the Philippines as a student and has spent most of his priestly life there.

29

Are you enjoying this issue of Reality?

Would you like to receive Reality on a regular basis?

AN SUBSCRNUAL IPTION* ON LY

€25/£20 Taking a subscription ensures Reality magazine is delivered to your door every month instead of calling to a church or a shop in the hope that you will find it there.

Each issue is packed with articles to inform, inspire and challenge you as a Catholic today.

A one year subscription to REALITY magazine is just €25 or £20 No extra charge for postage and packing



HOW TO ORDER: Phone 01 492 2488 • Email sales@redcoms.org • Online www.redcoms.org Post Complete the order form below and return it to: Redemptorist Communications, St Joseph’s Monastery, Dundalk, Co Louth, A91 F3FC

ORDER FORM:

Yes, I would like to subscribe to REALITY. Please send me a copy of ‘VISITS TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT’ PAYMENT DETAILS | Please tick

OPTION A:

I wish to pay by credit card

FREE!

With every subscription

one of the following options:

VISA

MASTERCARD

Valid from:

LASER

Valid to: CVC

OPTION B:

I wish to pay by cheque

OPTION C:

Existing account holders only:

PLEASE NOTE THAT CHEQUES MUST BE MADE PAYABLE TO “REDEMPTORIST COMMUNICATIONS”

I enclose a cheque for:

Please bill my account at the address below.

My account number is:

Name

Phone

Address

Email Signed

*SUBSCRIPTION RATES ARE: • €25 (ROI) • £20 (NI) • £30 (UK) • €40 (Europe) • €50 (International)

COM M E N T FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS CARMEL WYNNE

ARE YOUR AFFAIRS IN ORDER?

DID YOU KNOW THAT ALMOST SEVEN IN TEN IRISH PEOPLE HAVE NOT MADE A WILL AND MANY MORE HAVE NOT PLANNED TO DO SO? THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS USUALLY WISH THEY HAD, AS IT SAVES THEM A GREAT DEAL OF TROUBLE. Isn’t it wonderful to see how attitudes to ageing have changed?

Thanks to the wonders of modern medicine, people anticipate living far beyond the allotted biblical timescale of three score years and ten. So many older people, who feel young at heart, regard 60 as the new 40 and seldom think of the necessity to make arrangements for the end of life.

One might expect that everyone is aware of how important it is for every adult to have a will. Divisive and grief-stricken family disputes are almost inevitable when there is no will. Does it surprise you that a 2017 survey by mutual life, pensions and investment company Royal London, of 1,000 Irish adults nationwide, found that 36 per cent said they do not have a will in place? Only 50 per cent of these people are even planning to make one.

There are many reasons why seven in ten Irish people don't have a will or dread making one.

Putting one’s affairs in order seems to suggest one has a premonition of one’s own mortality. Some people think it’s morbid for a healthy person, who is enjoying a wonderful quality of life, to make an end-of-life plan. It’s common for younger people to believe they have no reason to make a will as they have no goods or property worth bequeathing. That may be true but in the event of a sudden or accidental death, it helps if family members know the person’s wishes.

Even though people know that death is an inevitable part of life, many defer making a will. If they think of putting their affairs in order, their perception is that the best time to do so is when one is old, seriously ill or suffering with a terminal illness. If doctors say there is no further treatment for their illness then they will have no option but to make a will.

About one in three Irish people carry a donor card. In an MRBI poll of 1,000 people, 80 per cent of respondents said they would be willing to donate their organs.

Only 50 per cent had discussed this option with their family.

Even when the deceased person carries a donor card, consent is never presumed. In order for the donation to proceed, the next of kin is always asked for consent.

Families will always do their best to honour the perceived wishes of a loved one but it can be traumatic when they disagree about what they are. The undertaker will ask if the deceased wanted to be buried or cremated. I know of a family

where a favourite uncle never married, had no children and died intestate. His nieces and nephews were his next of kin. The nieces wanted him to be buried because they felt it was important to have a grave to visit. The nephews were strongly opposed to burial and insisted that he wanted to be cremated. This was difficult because the nearest crematorium was almost 90 miles away.

The men said their uncle told them that he wanted his ashes to be scattered on three of the mountains he had climbed with their deceased father. The compromise the family came up with was to have the body cremated after the funeral and to divide the ashes. They bought a grave locally to inter part of the ashes. The rest were scattered on the mountains as the nephews claimed the uncle wanted.

Every death is as heart-wrenching and shocking as it is inevitable.

Nothing really prepares us for the moment we realise that the

person we loved and talked to and laughed with will never take another breath. It’s sobering to look at all the practical decisions that will then be necessary.

A funeral director will take responsibility for booking the church and priest, music, putting death notices in the newspaper, providing the flowers for the coffin and having cars to bring the family to the church and burial. They will even make the booking for where mourners go after the funeral for refreshments.

But they can’t take care of everything. The family has to decide on the wording of the death notices, what flowers are to be put on the coffin and who will select the coffin. Readings and hymns will have to be picked, the Mass booklet prepared and printed, and people selected to do the readings and bring up the gifts.

Even though we know that death is an inevitable part of life, one in three people do not have their affairs in order. It is such a comfort to people who are in mourning when they know where the will and other important documents and passwords can be found.

Making a will is an act of kindness; a legacy that every responsible and loving person can gift to their family.

Carmel Wynne is a life and work skills coach and lives in Dublin. For more information, visit www.carmelwynne.org

31

WHEN WE PRAY FOR THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM, WE ARE AT THE HEART OF JESUS’ MESSAGE THAT ALL PEOPLE AND ALL CREATION WILL RECOGNISE AND ACKNOWLEDGE THE GOD OF ISRAEL AS THE ONLY GOD AND LORD.

BY MIKE DALEY

For 32

several years, Sunday night was Game of Thrones night.

Along with my dog Jasper (who I imagined at times to be my direwolf which happens to be the sigil of House Stark), I would head over to my neighbour Dan’s house to be captivated by stories of honour and betrayal, love and seduction, and triumph and defeat. Running eight seasons, the show is based on a series of books by George R.R. Martin. With magical incantations mixed with warring families combined with humanish ice creatures and chivalrous knights, the setting is at once both fantastical and medieval For all the influential families of the Seven Kingdoms who dwell in Westeros the goal is the same–to sit on the Iron Throne. Made by a former 'mad' king from the swords of defeated enemies and fused by dragon fire, the grotesque and imposing throne is the real and symbolic seat of power.

From it comes one of the show’s iconic lines– “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.” Cersei Lannister, the unfaithful wife of King Robert Baratheon, utters them to Eddard Stark, the Hand of the King. With these words Cersei sends a clear warning to Ned Stark that whatever truth he appears to possess which will compromise her power, she is just as prepared to keep it through various schemes and plots up to and including his death. At all cost, her kingdom and power will be maintained.

REALITY APRIL 2020

Whether it be popular culture or actual history, brotherly backstabbing, palace intrigue, wars of succession, marital infidelity, and the like, are usually what we associate with kingdoms.

JESUS AND THE KINGDOM What a contrast the Our Father offers to our familiar understanding when Jesus prays “Thy kingdom come.”

The kingdom of God was central to Jesus’ person and ministry. Following the example of John the Baptist, Jesus began his Galilean ministry saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This 'gospel' included “curing every disease and illness among the people” (Mt 4:19, 23). This kingdom called for conversion, a change of heart, an ever-widening sense of neighbour, and a reorientation of values.

As scripture scholar and Jesuit Daniel Harrington states, “In the context of firstcentury Judaism, the ‘Kingdom of God’ referred especially to God’s future display of power and judgment and to the final establishment of God’s rule over all creation.

Then, all people and all creation will recognise and acknowledge the God of Israel as the only God and Lord.” For many Jews, far removed from their freedom from slavery in Egypt and David’s divinely blessed kingship in Jerusalem, having suffered oppression successively under the Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Greeks, and now Roman rulers, this

long-awaited messiah and time of fulfilment was pushed more and more into the future.

In a sense then, there is nothing noteworthy in Jesus’ proclamation of God’s kingdom.

Various Jewish groups of his day–the priestly Sadducees who controlled the Temple, the ascetical Essenes who separated themselves from the larger society, the pastoral Pharisees who wished to bring God to ordinary and everyday life, and the revolutionary Zealots who sought to overthrow the Romans through violence–spoke of the same belief and God’s hopeful messianic intervention into history.

What is unique, however, is that Jesus sees the kingdom of God taking place in and through his public ministry of preaching and healing. As Irish Dominican scripture scholar Sr Celine Mangan explains: “The great saving events which God had effected for his people in the past were now present in the

history–recent or remote–has proven this decisively wrong. The Church triumphant humbly becomes the Church pilgrim.

In this regard, some years ago, The Christian Century editorialised on the kingdom petition, calling it not so much a prayer but a lament and confession. A lament “for the gap between God’s realm of peace and justice and reality as we know it” and confession of the “gap which exists between heaven and earth runs right through our own lives and through the communities of believers who claim to follow Jesus.”

ministry of Jesus himself. In his healings and exorcisms, his kindness and compassion, the reality of God’s concern for his people was visible. The kingdom of God, God’s special way of dealing with his people, was coming about in the activity of Jesus.”

PUZZLING PARABLES Perhaps the best way to think of the kingdom then, is as a relationship that we’re invited into or as a consciousness that we’re urged to develop further and live out more fully. Jesus offers this relationship and consciousness to us through parables. Jesus used these imaginative metaphors drawn from everyday life to stretch people's minds about what the kingdom of God is. For Jesus the kingdom is like a sower who went out to sow seeds which fell in different places. It is like weeds growing amongst wheat. It is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds (cf. Mt 13). It is like a rich fool who sought to store all his grain and other goods but died the next day (Lk 12). It is like a lost sheep, a lost coin, or a lost son, the finding of which brings excessive celebration (Lk 15). It is like a dishonest steward who lowered the loans of his master’s debtors (Lk 16). As much as we claim to know about the kingdom of God, even to be a part of it, upon further consideration it is a strange, unsettling reality.

This is seen most dramatically in Jesus who becomes the central parable of the kingdom of God – the true king who suffers

This kingdom called for conversion, a change of heart, an ever-widening sense of neighbour, and a reorientation of values There is some caution which comes with the word 'kingdom' however. Given past usage we may be inclined to think geographically or of a specific time and space. At various points, some people even have claimed that the Church is the kingdom of God. How often

persecution and is crucified but is raised from the dead through Resurrection.

Taken together then, some characteristics of the kingdom emerge. Though one cannot be forced to participate in it, the kingdom demands decisive action. It is already present, but not fully realised. It is brought forth through nonviolence, yet some respond violently toward it (Mt 11:12). It does not come forth directly, but slowly, over time, often without one’s realisation (Lk 17:21).

It is in this world but not of this world (Jn 18:36). Ultimately, the kingdom of God is a place of paradox where the first shall be last and last shall be first (Mt 19:30).

It should not surprise us that the kingdom goes against our common and secure expectations of righteousness whereby sinners and tax collectors, the poor and prostitutes, nonbelievers and the fallen away are invited to the same table of fellowship as you and I. Spiritual writer and Jesuit James Martin, SJ, reflects: “Expressing our desire for that realisation may help us to actualise it on earth. In other words, ask: What can I do to bring God’s reign on earth? You’re not God of course, but you still can do your part. Can you be more loving, more forgiving, more generous? Allow God’s reign to enter your heart, and you will help to bring it about on the earth.”

May “Thy Kingdom Come” indeed.

Mike Daley is a teacher and writer from Cincinnati, Ohio, where he lives with his wife June and their three children. His latest book, co-edited with Diane Bergant, is Take and Read: Christian Writers Reflect on Life’s Most influential Books.

33

IN T HE F O OT ST E PS OF CL EMENT: PART 2

PILGRIM AND HERMIT CLEMENT HOFBAUER WAS A MAN OF BOUNDLESS ENERGY. HE WAS ALSO A MAN WHO THIRSTED FOR THE SILENCE OF DEEP PRAYER AND CONTEMPLATION. FOR TEN YEARS OF HIS LIFE HE WAS TORN BETWEEN THE CHOICE OF PILGRIM OR HERMIT.

BY BRENDAN McCONVERY CSsR

34

When

Clement left the monastery school of Klosterbruck in 1775 having completed his secondary course, he was 24 years of age. The path to the priesthood he longed to take was not open to him due to his lack of funds. For the next nine years or so, Clement was restless. Some of that restlessness he seems to have worked off in his passion for walking pilgrimages.

He was also drawn to a life of prayer and spent periods of time as a hermit. He made his way eventually to Vienna and supported himself with his old baking trade. So successful was he that his employer offered him his daughter’s hand in marriage!

Midway through this period

REALITY APRIL 2020

of uncertainty, he got to know some wealthy and devout ladies who were impressed by the way in which he served Mass in St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, offered to fund his theology course at the University of Vienna. It was to be another five years before his restless spirit found its centre.

THE ROYAL SACRISTAN The ruler of Austria from 1779 until 1790 was the Emperor Joseph II. He was the son of the Empress Maria Teresa and brother of Marie Antoinette, queen of France who would lose her head on the guillotine in 1793. His mother had been a devout and loyal Catholic. Joseph did not share her devotion

As an Enlightenment ruler, he had no time for contemplative monastic orders, which he considered unproductive. He supressed a third of them and reduced the number of monks and nuns from 65,000 to 27,000.

Priest monks were ordered to take up parochial work, while the others were to be given a pension funded by the sale of their land. He reduced the number of holidays of obligation and attempted to control aspects of the celebration of the liturgy, including the use of music, and that in the age of Mozart and Haydn. Church courts lost their powers, and marriage was brought under the control of the state. He also brought the seminaries under state control. Their number was to be reduced, and for the most part, they were to become merely student residences, while Emperor Joseph II – The Royal Sacristan

but his excessive interest in attempting to control every level of the Church in his vast empire won him the nickname of the 'Royal Sacristan'. Joseph was very much a hands-on ruler.

It has been estimated that he issued 700 decrees annually, or approximately two a day.

standing ambition of many European rulers to control the Church and the new Enlightenment philosophical principles that were giving birth to Rationalism and Deism (belief in the existence of a supreme being but one who was not identical with the God of Christian revelation and who did not intervene directly in the human world).

He approved of Freemasonry which was the source of a great deal of anticlerical thinking.

Like many reforming rulers, Joseph turned his attention firstly to the monasteries and religious orders.

Clement continued to be a devoted pilgrim for most of his life but, in his twenties, one of the favourite goals of his pilgrimage was Rome Joseph’s policies, known collectively as Josephism, represented both the long-

the teaching of theology was undertaken by the Universities where the professors were kept in line with the royal thinking.

CLEMENT THE PILGRIM Pilgrimage remains a popular form of devotion in the German religious world. Where possible, pilgrimages are done on foot, usually to sanctuaries in the immediate region at the time of their annual feast. Clement continued to be a devoted pilgrim for most of his life but, in his twenties, one of the favourite goals of his pilgrimage was Rome. The motorway connection between Rome and Vienna today is more than 1,000 kilometres. In Clement’s time it was considerably longer and involved passing over the Alps, a difficult mountain range that was often snow-bound. Roads were poor, often little more

Clement's pilgrim route to Rome

Vienna Linz Salzburg AUSTRIA

Graz

SWITZERLAND SLOVENIA CROATIA Padua

Venice

Bologna ITALY

Rome

35

IN THE F OOTSTEPS OF CLEM ENT: PA RT 2

than dirt tracks, Santuario Madonna Di Quintiliolo. Tivoli, Italy and the pilgrim had to repeat the journey homewards. We do not know exactly how many times Clement made the pilgrimage, but two journeys are known: one resulted in his staying in Tivoli for six months as a hermit, and the other was the occasion of his entrance into the Redemptorist congregation.

Pilgrims usually travelled in groups for security and support.

Shelter for the night was at best a barn, or exceptionally, in the guest house of as being attacked by savage dogs or a monastery or convent. Food was assaulted at an inn by thugs bent on purchased along the way, and if the robbing them. pilgrim ran out of money, begging was a recognised way of raising it and THE HERMIT helping a pilgrim in difficulties was Hermits survived into the 18th an act of charity. We know the names century in many parts of Europe. of two of Clement’s companions. They did not belong to regular Peter (later, Emmanuel) Kunzann religious communities but lived was, like Clement, a baker and was alone, usually close to a church, also searching for a place to live as and devoted themselves to a simple regime of prayer and work. Their lives were simple: the only books they were permitted to have were the Bible, the catechism, The Imitation of Christ and the Rule for Hermits. They often acted as caretaker and sacristan of the church or a hermit. Thaddeus Hubl, a young sanctuary, sometimes undertaking theology student, accompanied him the religious instruction of children. on his 1774 pilgrimage and entered Hermits were under the oversight the Redemptorist along with him. of the local bishop whose approval Some stories of events on the was needed and who was given by journey have survived, possibly tales blessing the hermit’s habit and cross.

Clement seems to have first taken that Clement or his companions might have told at recreation, such on the hermit life at the sanctuary

After six months, Clement’s restless spirit knew it was not for him and that he was being called to a more apostolic way of life

of the Scourged Redeemer at Muhlfrauen close to his home village of Tasswitz. His stay there was short, as the hermitage was soon closed. It was not a good time for hermits in Austria as Emperor Joseph was convinced they were lazy and useless. In 1781, he ordered all hermitages in the empire to be closed and the hermits to return to ordinary life.

In an attempt to preserve their way of life, some of the hermits left Austria for Italy where they were still welcome. With a companion called Peter Kunzmann, who had first made a pilgrimage with him to Rome in 1768, Clement set off in search of another hermitage. They found one near the town of Tivoli in the hills above Rome. A short distance outside the town there was a sanctuary of the Madonna of Quintiliolo. It was there that the two young men founded a hermitage and applied to the local bishop for his approval. It was granted, and as a sign of their radical turning to the hermitical life, they were given

new names. Peter took the name Emmanuel and the man who had formerly been Jan Dvorak/Hofbauer, took the name Clement after the third successor of St Peter as bishop of Rome. Even when he abandoned the hermitical life, he retained the name until the end as a memory of those days.

Quintiliolo was a beautiful spot.

Looking back on it in his final years, he said to his companions in Vienna: “If only you knew the beautiful area of Tivoli. There you can pray well, you are totally separated from the world and hence totally united with God’” It may have been an ideal spot, but after six months, Clement’s restless spirit knew it was not for him and that he was being called to a more apostolic way of life. But what it was, was still not clear and it would take another few years of work and pilgrimage to discover what it was. Not wishing to discourage Emmanuel, Clement quietly slipped out of the hermitage, and took the road back to Vienna.

To be continued: Clement meets the Redemptorists

Fr Brendan McConvery CSsR is editor of Reality.

He has published The Redemptorists in Ireland (1851 – 2011,) St Gerard Majella: Rediscovering a Saint and historical guides to Redemptorist foundations in Clonard, Limerick and Clapham, London.

37

W HAT I R E L A N D OW E S TO TH E SISTE RS

THE NAME OF GOD:

MOTHER KEVIN

38

LIKE NANO NAGLE, MOTHER KEVIN IS ONE OF A SMALL SELECT GROUP WHO HAVE FOUNDED TWO RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS, ONE BASED IN IREL AND AT MOUNT OLIVER NE AR DUNDALK AND THE OTHER IN AFRICA.

BY JOHN SCALLY

REALITY APRIL 2020

Teresa

Kearney or Mama Kevina was the third daughter of Michael and Teresa Kearney of Knockenrahan, Arklow, County Wicklow. She was born on April 27, 1875, three months after her father was accidentally killed. To add to her tragic background Teresa was just ten years old when her mother died. She was raised by her maternal grandmother, Grannie Grennell, who was a formative influence on her life.

SEARCHING FOR A FUTURE Teresa attended the national school run by the Sisters of Mercy in Arklow. She left school at 14 which was not uncommon in the Ireland of her time. Her dream had been to become a teacher but like many of her generation she was not able to achieve it because of lack of funds. Against this background the only option for many people seeking a better future was emigration. When Teresa was 15, her two sisters were invited to America by an aunt. Disappointed that no invitation came her way, Teresa headed for Dublin where she took a job as a teaching assistant. Two years later, on the death of her grandmother, Teresa left Ireland to teach in a school in Essex in England.

Around this time Teresa felt the call to enter religious life. She applied for admission to the Franciscan Sisters, St Mary’s Abbey, Mill Hill, London, volunteering for work among the African-American community. On entering, she took the name Mary Kevin. She took her final vows in 1898.

God had other plans for her. For three years she waited patiently for a posting to the American Mission, but when the call came, it was from Africa.

In 1902, on an invitation from Bishop Hanlon of the Mill Hill Fathers, six sisters left the Abbey for the Vicariate of the Upper Nile, where they would care for women and girls. They left London on December 3, 1902.

They travelled from Mombasa to Kisumu in Kenya. Their train had the distinction of being the first one to stay on the rail for the whole journey! They crossed Lake Victoria but had to walk the last seven miles before

they arrived at their destination Nsambya, Kampala, on January 15, 1903. This was the genesis of a mission that would make Mother Kevin’s name a household word in that part of Africa.

Mother Kevin started her first clinic under a mango tree near the convent. By 1906, she oversaw the opening of her first hospital ward IN AFRICA Teresa became a real presence among the people because of the reputation she commanded for charity and generosity. From small acorns great oaks grow. Mother Kevin started her first clinic under a mango tree near the convent. By 1906, she oversaw the opening of her first hospital ward.

The sisters responded to their new environment with imagination – from trying to cope with the heat by sleeping out of doors under the cover of a mosquito net, looking at the moonlight, to putting Vaseline on the bed-posters to ward off snakes. They joked that they had two seasons: the hot and the hotter. As with all transitions, some aspects were exciting and pleasant, while others were challenging and required caution or special attention.

Hunger was an ever-present reality and as a result many children died. Mother Kevin experienced cultural shock seeing the poverty – a hunger that brought fear, fury and long, gaunt faces to the crowd of women in the remote places, hunger that brought dying children to the nutrition centre, their only influence being their hopeless eyes, and the tight-jawed love that brought mothers, barefoot and exhausted after carrying their children through the bush, over hill and under the burning sun. There were times when the hunger was very acute. Parents were swimming in a river of desperation knowing that one or more of their children

could die. For the vast majority the everyday task was survival.

SPIRITUAL ENERGY Notwithstanding the difficulties, Africa proved spiritually uplifting for Mother Kevin.

The spectacular landscape hinted at a divine presence that was responsible for creating such splendour. Singing out between the spaces in the wind under the African sky was a reminder that the incarnation was taking place in people and throughout all levels of nature and within all beings, created to manifest the divine and to sing the praises of God. The early years were particularly tough.

Sleeping sickness left a devastating trail of destruction through the villages around Lake Victoria. Smallpox was omnipresent, and bubonic plaque was prevalent. Tropical diseases such as malaria and dysentery were common, and due to lack of care, infant mortality and maternal deaths were very high. Through all this, funds had to be found to keep the project afloat. In 1910 Sr Kevin was given the task of building up and directing the missionary work.

Mother Kevin spent 52 years working in Africa, founding several missions whose activities included primary and secondary education, teacher-training colleges, nursing schools, clinics and hospitals, orphanages, a school for the blind and two centres for leprosy. Her concern for those in need earned her the nickname ‘the woman of God’.

GROWTH During the war years of 1914-1918, Nsambya, now a hospital, became a place where the Ugandan Corps were attended. At times, Mother Kevin’s sense of justice was outraged at the treatment given to the African porters by their European officers and she spoke out strongly against it. She championed the rights of the African people caught up in this devastating war. On Christmas day 1918 after the end of the bitter conflict Mother Kevin was awarded the MBE for her services to the sick and wounded during the war years.

One of her greatest concerns was for the

Teresa Kearney as a young sister

advancement of women. Mother Kevin’s dream was to create a wider and better world for them, and to help them overcome what oppressed them. She believed that women’s education was pivotal for their advancement.

She advanced the education of girls so that young African women could be teachers to their own people. Her contribution to women’s education in Uganda is the stuff of legend. It is an eloquent testimony to the success of her mission that she lived to see one of her pupils receive the first Bachelor of Science degree in East Africa, and another became the first female doctor.

She was a woman ahead of her time as she realised the vital importance of the involvement of Catholic laity in the Church’s missionary work. As early as 1920 she had persuaded a few zealous women from Ireland, England and Scotland to join the apostolate with her Sisters.

BREAKING BOUNDARIES Mindful of the great hardship many women endured during childbearing, and of the high rate of infant mortality and maternal deaths, she resolved to do something about it. She approached Cardinal Bourne of Westminster with a request to study midwifery. At the time maternity work was closed to religious, but Canon Law did not stop her breaking the glass ceiling. The bishop was mortified that a

holy nun should study midwifery in Dublin and forbade her to continue. However, to tell Mother Kevin what she couldn’t do – was to tell her what she could do! She attended a modified course in obstetrics in Alsace in France. She launched a Catholic nurses training school in Nsambya. Its motto was ‘Love and Service’.

One of Mother Kevin’s enduring legacies was the establishment of the Little Sisters of St Francis in 1923 and her efforts to train them to the height of their abilities for leadership among their people. Despite opposition, she began with eight local girls. Today there are over 600 professed sisters serving the church in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. The late Dr H Jowitt, formerly director of education in Uganda, said when speaking about the Congregation: "It is difficult to exaggerate the moral and social influence of the LSOSF in a land where, before the advent of Mother Kevin one met the almost total degradation of the women."

It had long been evident that the Uganda Province needed to become a separate congregation. This led in 1952 to the founding of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa.

Mother Kevin was appointed their first superior General of the new congregation.

On the morning of October 17, 1957, Mother Kevin went to meet her God. Quietly and alone she had surrendered to ‘Sister Death’. One of the most powerful tributes to her came after her death. Her life-long friend Cardinal Cushing of Boston, paid the expenses of sending her body to Ireland, where she was interred in the cemetery at Mount Oliver, but she only lay there for one month. The people of Uganda begged that her body be returned to the country to which she had given much of her life to. On December 3 she was finally laid to rest at Nkokonjeru among the people who considered her one of their own.

John Scally teaches theology at Trinity College, Dublin. He has a special interest in the areas of ethics and history.

39

BACK TO ZIMBABWE

IT HAS BEEN A WET WINTER, BUT AT LEAST THE WATER WILL MAKE THE CROPS GROW. ZIMBABWE HAS UNDERGONE SERIOUS DROUGHT THAT MIGHT BRING FAMINE IN ITS WAKE.

40

BY RICHARD REID CSsR

It

is now 11 years since I called Zimbabwe my home and lived in the Redemptorist community on the fringes of Harare. Many times, we found ourselves uttering the words, “these are the best of times and these are the worst of time” and how true they indeed were. Zimbabwe is a beautiful country with much of the things that we have here at home and so many more wondrous things that only Africa has. The people of this land are mostly Shona people and they share the land with the Ndebele people. They are truly gracious people who value peace and will look out for those in need.

As the Redemptorists we lived together, Shona, Ndebele and Scottish folk, all trying to walk in the Holy Redeemer’s footsteps.

Going back recently I had the great joy of seeing so many of my religious brothers whom I had journeyed with and worked alongside. Many of my students are now key players in the country, running our many and

REALITY APRIL 2020

varied apostolates. One that deserves special mention is a project that Br Benjamin CSsR runs, educating and feeding 20,000 children, many of whom have been principal figures in their child-headed households! It is difficult to imagine what our confrères are dealing with unless we have been there and seen with our own eyes.

Bishop Raymond Mupandasekwa CSsR

DROUGHT Someone else I would like to mention is our confrère who was made a bishop two years ago for the Diocese of Chinhoyi, northern Zimbabwe, Bishop Raymond Mupandasekwa CSsR. When I visited Bishop Raymond, the rains were pelting down, and yet the bishop was talking about a drought! The rains we had in February should have fallen some months previously in October.

“First of all, we have lost something like 35 elephants and we also lost 85 cattle because they could not find grazing anywhere,” said Bishop Raymond. “They live just next to the Zambesi river but all they could find was a bit of water. This river is the fourth longest river in Africa. The water has gone down in the Zambesi such that we cannot get electricity in Kariba. Basically, we are in our second year of drought and this year has been perhaps worse than last year and because of that we are suffering from the effect of last year’s drought. The rains usually come in the middle of October and the rainy season ends around this time in February but

Sunset over Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe

We have lost something like 35 elephants and we also lost 85 cattle because they could not find grazing anywhere

since October we have had very, very little rain here.

The dams are not full at all. They have less than 20 per cent. Electricity is not being generated in our biggest lake Kariba and because there is not much rain people are not being able to plant anything.

The only people who have been able to plant are farmers who are close to the Zambesi River and with flowing water you find food. So along the highway you will find a bit of green because the farmers along the highway have flowing water from these sources but for those who wait for the rains to fall they have not planted or if they have planted the crop is still very, very small and hopefully if the season prolongs to April only then they will be happy but usually we have the rains until February, a few drops in March and that is it. So, we are not looking at harvesting much this year except for those who are doing irrigation which is perhaps less than five per cent of the population. Our biggest challenge is to find food and to find grain.

Grain is nowhere to be found in the country. We are arranging to import grain from either South Africa or from Zambia which is very near to this diocese. They are our next-door neighbours and without that little help the country will starve. You can go into the shops now and there is no mielie meal which is the staple food in this country. Our biggest challenge is what we do. Mielie meal is

made from the grinding of maize and you cook it into a paste that you eat with vegetables and that provides carbohydrates, without that people have nothing else. We are in a desperate situation.

The World Food Programme has indicated that Zimbabwe is the most affected in Southern Africa trying to feed about 5.3 million. We are in a bit of trouble. Chinhoyi is most vulnerable because we have always been in the lower range for areas of Zimbabwe. They say that last year’s drought which is creeping into this year has been the worst drought in 40 years. It is a very, very serious situation that we are having today.”

That is very much the bishop, our Redemptorist brother, telling it exactly as it is. I have come back from Zimbabwe with a spirit of joy, and I have certainly left a part of myself in that beautiful place.

The Redemptorists in Zimbabwe

However, unfortunately, I have brought home a spirit of sadness, knowing that people I love are there working so hard to bring the Gospel to life and yet they have so many struggles to try and conquer. These words still seem to be the truth: “it is the best of times; it is the worst of times”. Your prayers are gratefully received.

If you would like to donate to the work of Bishop Raymond, you can send your donation to: The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer re the Diocese of Chinhoyi Business Réserve Account Sort code 600001 Account No.: 48786683 Scottish-born Fr Richard Reid is rector of St Mary’s, Clapham, and currently acting provincial of the London Province.

41

LEADING LADIES TRÓCAIRE LAUNCHED ITS ANNUAL LENTEN CAMPAIGN ON ASH WEDNESDAY WITH A REPORT THAT REVEALS HOW WOMAN ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY IMPACTED BY CLIMATE CHANGE AND CORPORATE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

BY DAVID O'HARE 42

Trócaire's

latest report, ‘Women Taking the Lead: Defending Human Rights and the Environment’ details the experiences of courageous women, many of whom are engaged in defending their communities against the effects of corporate greed and the devastating environmental impact of climate change.

Among the notable statistics and information included in the report: Disasters resulting from climate change are estimated to kill 14 times more females than males. Natural disasters increase young girls’ chances of being trafficked. Young girls are 20-30 per cent more at risk of human trafficking following environmental disasters. Attacks on female human rights defenders are increasing. Last year 137 women were attacked for opposing big business and defending their communities. Almost half of all of these attacks were against indigenous women and affected rural communities. Women are more likely to experience

REALITY APRIL 2020

violence during crisis situations such as natural disasters or forced displacement.

More than 70 per cent of women in crisis situations have experienced direct violence.  Worldwide less than 13 per cent of agricultural land is owned by women, making them more vulnerable to eviction.

TWO BRAVE WOMEN Bertita Zúñiga Cáceres, leader of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (COPINH) – an organisation supported by Trócaire – visited Dublin and Belfast to help launch the report. Bertita’s mother, Berta Cáceres, was an internationally renowned activist and winner of the environmental Goldman Prize .She was shot dead in 2016 after a long battle to stop construction of an internationally financed hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque river, which the indigenous Lenca people consider sacred.

Bertita was present to speak about her own experience of violence inflicted on female human rights defenders and the indigenous community’s long struggle to defend their land

from corporate abuse. While she continues the work of her mother, Bertita is also seeking justice to ensure that all those responsible for the murder – the company executives and state officials identified during the resulting trial – are prosecuted.

She explained: “Trócaire supporters in Ireland, north and south, have helped us by giving visibility to the fight for justice, as well as financial support. This will help to keep the work going in the search for justice and in defence of all humanrights defenders and indigenous communities.

“I believe that we deserve a life of justice, freedom and peace. We want a country that recognises indigenous peoples and the diversities that make up Honduras – a country built according to Honduran needs and not those of companies.”

Trócaire’s CEO Caoimhe de Barra added: “Trócaire’s report details the shocking impact of climate change and human rights violations inflicted upon many women who live in countries where we work.

“Women are disproportionately affected by poverty, which is made worse by the effects of

climate change on some of the world’s poorest people. Developing countries carry about 75 per cent of the cost of the climate crisis, but the poorest populations are responsible for just 10 per cent of global carbon emissions.

“Around the world, women face huge risks in standing up for their rights in the face of injustice perpetrated by big business taking advantage of vulnerable communities. The threat of assault and murder is a daily reality for many of these women, who are fighting for their families to live better lives.

LENTEN CAMPAIGN “This year, Trócaire’s Lent campaign will help to support women around the world who are struggling to protect their families from intimidation, violence, hunger and drought.

“The Trócaire Box features two women and their families. Angela from Honduras is risking her life to stand up against corporations which are destroying the forests and poisoning the rivers around her village. Meanwhile in Kenya, Madris

Bertita at the mural in Dublin honouring her late mother. Photo Mark Stedman

and her family are bearing the brunt of the effects of climate change. Rains don’t come and crops wither. Madris’ children often only get one meal.

“By contributing to our Lenten Appeal, people in Ireland will be providing vital aid, care and

support to these brave women and many others like them,” said Caoimhe de Barra.

For more information or to support Trócaire’s Lent campaign, visit www.trocaire.org/lent or phone 1850 408 408 ROI (0800 912 1200 NI)

Available from Redemptorist Communications

Denis McBride’s STATIONS of the CROSS

then and now

The way of the cross is not confined to a lonely road in Jerusalem two thousand years ago: it is a busy highway winding through every village, town and city in our modern world.

Fr Denis McBride C.Ss.R. reflectively guides us along the way of the cross. He contrasts the beauty and solemn simplicity of the more traditional Stations by artist Curd Lessig with modern images that challenge us to link Jesus’ story to the struggle of our everyday life. Through its rich array of scripture passages, paintings, poetry, prayers, photographs and reflections, Stations of the Cross – then and now becomes a companion not only on our Lenten journey but throughout the year: suffering is not limited to one liturgical season. Whether we walk in solitude or with others, this book translates the passion of Jesus into our own life and times.

To Order: Call 00353 (0) 1 4922488, Email: sales@redcoms.org or go to shop at www.redcoms.org

Just

€14.9&5p plus p

CO M M E N T REALITY CHECK PETER McVERRY SJ

THE DEATH OF JESUS

WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY THAT JESUS DIED FOR US? HOW CAN WE UNDERSTAND THE DEATH OF JESUS TODAY? “Jesus died for our sins.” How do we understand that? When I was growing up, I was told that, because of our sins, our infidelity to God, God sent his Son to suffer and die, as a sacrifice, to appease God’s anger and restore humanity’s relationship with God. I now find that offensive and insulting to any parent, especially to an all-loving God. So how can we understand Jesus’ crucifixion? The two words that have caused so much pain and suffering in our world are the words “I want”. We could classify “I want” under three headings:

44

1. “I want” something you have.

This “I want” is the source of all greed and avarice, the desire to acquire more and more, and to cling to what we possess.

It is responsible for robberies, burglaries and assaults. Greed was largely responsible for the economic crash in 2008 which caused untold suffering to so many people. Greed is largely responsible for the homeless and housing crisis which we experience today in Ireland. “I want” has been responsible for countless wars, causing the death and suffering of millions of people.

2. “I want” your body. Seeing people as objects to satisfy our sexual desires has caused trauma to millions of people who suffer rape and sexual assault.

It is responsible for child abuse and an explosion of internet pornography.

REALITY APRIL 2020

for others and not for ourselves.

Jesus came to replace “I want” with “I care”. He came to save us from our sins.

3. “I want” power. Numerous dictators have murdered, tortured and disappeared their opponents in order to get, or retain, power. They have killed peaceful protestors. “I want” power, or control over you, has led to human trafficking, slavery and domestic violence.

Jesus came to replace those three “I wants” with another way of living.

Instead of greed and avarice, Jesus asked us to share generously what we do not need with others who are in need. He and the Apostles lived this way of life, sharing everything they had. For the early Church, it was a non-negotiable condition of belonging to the Church that everything a person had was to be made available for the needs

of the community. Instead of 'get, get, get' Jesus wanted us to 'give, give, give'.

Instead of seeing others as objects, Jesus asked us to respect every person as we would respect God, to treat everyone with the same dignity as we would treat God, because every person is the presence of God to us. Jesus himself showed respect to everyone, even those who were denied respect by the society he was living in sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, the poor, the sick, the disabled.

Instead of wanting power and control over others, Jesus asks us to be the servants of others, as he himself came, “not to be served, but to serve”. Jesus, who was “Master and Lord” washed the feet of his disciples as an example to them of how to live

And the crucifixion of Jesus was the final and complete act of saving us from our sins. Jesus was crucified because of his caring for the outcasts, the sinners whom the religious authorities wanted to exclude from their society, the tax collectors, collaborators with the hated Roman occupiers of the land, the poor who were looked down upon because they were unable to obey the law in all its complexity, and the sick who were considered to be out of favour with God. Jesus was crucified, not because God wanted him to die, but because the sinless Son of God, living as God wishes all of us to live, came into collision with the sinfulness of human beings, their greed, sexual desires and desire for power.

Jesus gave everything, including what was most precious to him, his own life, for us human beings and asked his followers to “do this in memory of me”. To die to ourselves by sacrificing ourselves and our wants for the sake of those who are poor, excluded and rejected is indeed to be saved from our sins, and to rise with Jesus to new life, both here and hereafter.

For more information or to support the Peter McVerry Trust: www.pmvtrust.ie info@pmvtrust.ie +353 (0)1 823 0776

GOD’S WORD THIS MONTH

45

BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD! Jesus and his disciples would probably have approached Jerusalem by the Roman road PALM SUNDAY leading from Jericho. It was a walk of more than 20 kilometres to Bethphage, the village on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem.

Jericho was more than 250 metres below sea level, and Jerusalem over 750 metres above, which added a stiff climb of about 3,000 feet to the journey. Jesus chose to enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey, not because he was tired after that long climb in the spring heat, but because he wished to show the crowds that turned out to welcome him that the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 was being fulfilled. Writing at a time when Israel was under control of the Persians, Zechariah

APRIL

05

hoped for a time of Jewish independence either under a new king of the line of David or a messianic figure who would fill the role of the ideal king. He would not be a power-broker, making alliances with foreign nations, but a real champion of the poor and downtrodden; he would be a humble figure who chose to ride the beast of burden of the poor, a donkey, rather than the mule (the traditional mount of Israelite kings) or the horse, the symbol of military power. The Gospel text translates very literally the poetic parallelism of the Hebrew which refers to a donkey and its foal: “Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

(Zec 9:9 NRS) As poetry, the repetition here simply implies a single animal. Matthew does not appear to understand this, and makes the

disciples bring two animals to Jesus. How Jesus manages to sit on two animals at once is not explained – some interpreters suggest that the garments were spread between the two animals and formed a kind of seat.

Spreading branches of trees and garments on the road was a way of welcoming royal figures. Hosanna is a Hebrew word that means “Save, I pray!” It occurs in some of the psalms. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” is taken from Psalm 118:26 and is addressed to a victorious king on his arrival at the temple to give thanks for his victory, once again highlighting the messianic tone of the triumphal entry.

Today’s Readings Mt 21:1-11 (Procession); Mass: Is 50:47; Ps 21; Phil 2:6-11; Mt 26:14-27:66

God’s Word continues on page 46

GOD’S WORD THIS MONTH HE IS RISEN! Compared to the sombre narrative of the Passion story on Friday, there is something bright and EASTER SUNDAY light-hearted about today’s Gospel. In a sense, we could even say that Jesus is playing tricks on his friends. There is a case of mistaken identity with Mary and almost a game of hide and seek.

There are three people in today’s reading. Each of them was overwhelmed by the death of Jesus but in very different ways. Mary was a troubled soul, who found comfort in the friendship of Jesus. When Peter and the others had abandoned him, she was one of that small group – all women apart from one young man – who followed him to the cross. Had she spent the Sabbath going numbly through the religious rites of Passover? She probably had not

slept too well that night, and, waking before dawn, made her way through dark streets of the city to the tomb. To her horror, the tomb was open. Could someone have stolen the body of Jesus? When she finally managed to rouse the sleeping disciples, she breathlessly blurted out her story and the two disciples rushed off to the tomb.

Two nights previously, Peter had denied that he even knew Jesus. In a fit of bravado, he had followed him to the courtyard of the high priest, but in the glow of the charcoal fire, his courage failed him, and he ran away. How had he spent the intervening time? Now he is running to the tomb, possibly with a sense of guilt – the least I can do for Jesus is to find what happened to his body.

The third person is someone the Fourth Gospel always calls “the disciple whom Jesus loved". We are not sure what his real name, is but he is usually identified as John the youngest of the disciples. He and Peter followed Jesus when he was arrested.

When Peter abandoned him, this disciple used his access to the high priest’s house to stay a little longer.

He had been at Calvary with the women, taking in every detail of that scene which he will use for his Gospel. He had received from the dying Jesus the last gift he had to give – his mother – and he took her into his own home. It is he who spots the linen cloths in which Jesus’ body had been wrapped on Friday afternoon. There they are, neatly folded.

If you are stealing a body, you don’t waste time folding the shroud neatly and leaving it aside. It is the beloved disciple who grasps the meaning of it all – Christ is risen as he said. As we ponder on the story today, we may well see aspects of ourselves reflected in all three disciples. Let them lead us into even deeper faith in the reality of the Resurrection.

“MY LORD AND MY GOD!” There are two parts to today’s Gospel. The first describes the appearance to the apostles on SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER (DIVINE the evening of Jesus' MERCY SUNDAY) Resurrection in the absence of Thomas and secondly, an appearance when he is present a week later. Other parts of the Resurrection tradition describe post-Resurrection appearances to the twelve (eg "first to Cephas, then to the twelve" cf. 1 Cor 15:16, or Luke’s account in 24:36-49). The Fourth Gospel’s negative picture of the Jews continues here; the doors are locked "for fear of the Jews". Jesus "stands in the midst of them" and shows his hands and side. Luke also has a reference to the wounds of the Risen Jesus (Lk 24:40), but the wounded side is unique to John and looks back to his Passion account (Jn 19:34). The victorious Lamb in Revelation stands alive but “as though it were slain” (Rev 5:6). The wounds of the Risen Jesus are a symbol of his victory over death.

'Peace' is a translation of the ordinary Hebrew greeting, shalom. It has implications

of wholeness and looks back to Jesus’ promise on the eve of his death to give his peace (cf.

Jn 14:27). This scene has been described as the ‘Johannine Pentecost’, even though it takes place on the evening of the first Easter Sunday.

The wording of the command to forgive sins deserves a short comment. Matthew twice uses the phrase ‘binding and loosing’ in association with the forgiveness of sins (16:19, 18:18). They have the same sense as John’s “forgiving and retaining”. For the rabbis, ‘binding and loosing’ meant authoritative decisions that would be binding for the community.

The second part of our Gospel is the story of the appearance to Thomas. Thomas receives a lot of attention in John. The Gospel pokes gentle fun at him, implying that he is both impetuous (eg at the raising of Lazarus) and a doubter, yet he is the one who will make the most daring act of faith in the Gospel. We might also note John's use of contrast scenes, sometimes involving a male and a female disciple (Nicodemus/ the Samaritan woman, the paralytic in ch 5/ blind man in ch 9). The two appearances to individuals in this chapter, Mary and Thomas, suggest a further study in

contrast. Like the appearance to Mary, the Thomas incident takes up the theme of the personal nature of faith in the Risen Lord. His confession “my Lord and my God' is a fitting climax to the Gospel and also to our celebration of the Easter festival.

With the vivid imagination of an artist, Michelangelo Caravaggio chose to paint the moment when Thomas the doubter is challenged by Jesus to put his hand into his side. Indeed, it is the hand of Jesus that guides the hand of Thomas. Caravaggio’s Thomas is not an attractive figure. He is a middle-aged, care-worn man, marked with poverty. His jacket is thinning at the elbow and the seam at the shoulder is beginning to rip. His hands are the hands of a worker. The nails are well bitten and there is dirt under them. Yet it is this dirty hand that is thrust into the wounded side of the Saviour. This is the Divine Mercy we celebrate today.

APRIL

12

46

APRIL

19

REALITY APRIL 2020

Today’s Readings Acts 10:34.37-43; Ps 117; Col 3:1-4; Jn 20:1-9

Today’s Readings Acts 2:42-47; Ps 117; 1 Peter 1:3-9; Jn 20:19-31

THE REALITY CROSSWORD NUMBER 3 APRIL 2020

THE BREAKING OF BREAD The story of two disciples going to Emmaus is one of the treasures of St Luke’s Gospel. It would probably have taken just over two hours or so to cover the seven miles of road. Who were the disciples? Only one of them is named, THIRD SUNDAY Cleophas: so who was the other? According to the Gospel of OF EASTER John, one of the women who stood at the cross with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was a woman called Mary, the wife of Clopas. While the spelling of the names is a little different, it is not unlikely that among the early disciple of Jesus there was a man called Clopas (or Cleophas) and Mary his wife. Journeys in Palestine usually began early in the day before the sun got warm and leaving enough time for the travellers to reach their destination in daylight.

The two disciples cannot wait to get away from Jerusalem. As soon as the Sabbath was over, they hit the road. The previous few days had been a rollercoaster of emotions: Passover with its religious joy and excitement, news of the arrest of Jesus, then his humiliating execution as a common criminal. As they walk along, a stranger joins them. Surely, they surmise, he must be someone who does not know what has been happening in Jerusalem, so they quickly fill him in. Jesus of Nazareth they had regarded as a prophet, but he had let them down and been executed by the religious authorities. But just before they had left, they had picked up a rumour that some of their friends had gone to visit his grave but found it empty. Others claimed to have seen a vision of angels who said he claimed he was alive. One suspects that Clophas and his companion could not take any more heartbreak and decided to clear out and back home before anyone played any more tricks on them.

The stranger’s reaction surprises them. He begins by challenging them that it was they who failed to recognise what was happening. They had been expecting a messiah would be a military leader, but the scriptures plainly showed that the messiah would suffer much "and so enter into his glory". As they walk along, the stranger gives them a crash course on the Bible.

As the conversation goes on, something about them is beginning to change. All the horror of the past few days is falling into place. They want this conversation to continue, but they have reached their destination. Whether it was their own home or not, we do not know, but they persuaded the stranger to join them at their meal. Then he does something they had seen Jesus do before: he takes the bread, says the prayer of thanksgiving over it and gives it to them. The penny has dropped: their companion on the road was Jesus himself but he has disappeared as mysteriously and quietly as he joined them. Without delay, they set out again to cover those seven miles in the opposite direction, probably racing the sun this time as they need to get to Jerusalem before night falls. There they find the community they had left that morning, bewildered and lost, now full of confidence that Jesus has risen. They can now add their story of how they had met him on the road.

APRIL

26

Today’s Readings

SOLUTIONS CROSSWORD No. 1 ACROSS: Across: 1. Sacred, 5. Behave, 10. Proverb, 11. Offices, 12. Erie, 13. Isaac, 15. INRI, 17. Ebb, 19. Logjam, 21. Papyri, 22. Ramadan, 23. Despot, 25. Xanadu, 28. Nap, 30. Owns, 31. Romeo, 32.

Harp, 35. Scapula, 36. Aramaic, 37. Psalms, 38. Damask.

DOWN: 2. Adoring, 3. Reef, 4. Debase, 5. Baobab, 6. Huff, 7. Vacancy, 8. Appeal, 9. Assisi, 14.

Abraham, 16. Aaron, 18. Banal, 20. Mat, 21. Pax, 23. Drowsy, 24. Sundays, 26. Avatars, 27. Unpack, 28. Nomads, 29. Petard, 33. Duel, 34. Palm.

Winner of Crossword No. 1 Noreen Mc Glynn, Donegal.

ACROSS 1. Table used in ceremonies in a Christian church. (6) 5. Raised platform in a church from which the preacher delivers a sermon. (6) 10. African country with desert elephants. (7) 11. Rejects someone or something in an abrupt or ungracious manner. (7) 12. Of a speaker who is fluent but insincere and shallow. (4) 13. A private teacher. (5) 15. Spoken rather than written. (4) 17. Feeling or showing sorrow. (3) 19. Cat, goat, or rabbit of a long-haired breed. (6) 21. Human-like creatures encountered by Gulliver in the Country of the Houyhnhnms. (6) 22. He asked God to spare the righteous people of Sodom and Gomorrah. (7) 23. A person who judges and evaluates. (6) 25. Tall (6) 28. Flat-topped conical red hat, once the Turkish national headdress. (3) 30. A Latin bear, possibly major or minor! (4) 31. Trials or other legal inquiries. (5) 32. Jelly-like substance used to culture bacteria. (4) 35. Christian rite of admission. (7) 36. "The ... is plentiful, but the workers are few." (Matthew 9:37) (7) 37. Reality organiser. (6)

38. The capital of Saudi Arabia. (6) DOWN 2. Rodent which does not jump off cliffs. (7) 3. Long white vestment worn by Roman Catholic officiants. (4) 4. Could be an Irish P.I. (6) 5. A length or portion of time. (6) 6. Throws a ball in a high arc. (4) 7. Dante's hellish book. (7) 8. Something that is mysterious or difficult to understand. (6) 9. Bible book comprising a collection of religious verses. (6) 14. Meals at becomes South American snacks wrapped in a corn husk.. (7) 16. The quest for this holy relic kept King Arthur's knights occupied. (5) 18. Popular mode of transport in the time of Jesus. (5) 20. Alphabet starters! (3) 21. A sweet potato by another name. (3) 23. What you can expect from the rich man's table (Luke 16:21) (6) 24. Lacking flavour; weak or tasteless. (7) 26. Giant Eurasian plant which can burn the skin. (7) 27. A person or thing that is not common or usual. (6) 28. Profession of Cain. (6) 29. A soft gentle breeze. (6) 33. Aromatic plant and coin producer. (4) 34. Address God. (4)

Entry Form for Crossword No.3, April 2020 Name: Address: Telephone:

Acts 2:14.22-33; Ps 15; 1 Pt 1:17-21; Lk 24:13-35 All entries must reach us by Thursday April 30, 2020 One €35 prize is offered for the first correct solutions opened. The Editor’s decision on all matters concerning this competition will be final. Do not include correspondence on any other subject with your entry which should be addressed to: Reality Crossword No.3, Redemptorist Communications, St Joseph's Monastery, Dundalk, County Louth A91 F3FC