Reality March 2015

PONTIUS PILATE: VILLAIN OR HERO?

March 2015

EBOLA LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

PASSOVER UNDERSTANDING THE JEWISH FEAST

Informing, Inspiring, Challenging Today’s Catholic

SUFFERING FOR THEIR FAITH PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS AROUND THE WORLD

A HERITAGE LIKE NO OTHER

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN IRELAND

TAKE OFF YOUR SANDALS!

150 YEARS OF THE ICON OF OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP

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IN THIS MONTH’S ISSUE FEATURES 12 SUFFERING FOR THEIR FAITH The plight of our persecuted brothers and sisters

By Tríona Doherty

19 PONTIUS PILATE What do we really know about him?

By George Wadding CSsR

22 MY JOURNEY OF FAITH A mission team member tells her story

By Niamh O’Neill

24 FR FEDERICO LOMBARDI Keeping tabs on Pope Francis

By Susan Gately

28 A HERITAGE LIKE NO OTHER Ireland’s small but energetic Jewish community

By Sue Leonard

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31 PASSOVER: FREEDOM FROM PERSECUTION A look at the Jewish celebration

By Brendan McConvery CSsR

34 MARK: A GOSPEL FOR PERSECUTED & STRESSED CHRISTIANS Consolation for a troubled community

By Denis McBride CSsR

40 TAKE OFF YOUR SANDALS! A new take on the Redemptorist icon

By Brian Holmes CSsR

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24

OPINION

REGULARS

11 CIARÁN O'CALLAGHAN CSsR

04 REALITY BITES

18 KATY DOBEY

07 POPE MONITOR

27 CARMEL WYNNE

08 PERSON OF THE MONTH

39 PETER McVERRY SJ

09 REFLECTIONS 42 UNDER THE MICROSCOPE 44 GOD’S WORD

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47 TRÓCAIRE: DEVELOPMENT IN ACTION

REALITY BITES MRS BROWN AND THE ST VINCENT DE PAUL DUBLIN

Brendan O’Carroll as Agnes Brown

PAYING IT FORWARD

Brendan O’Carroll, creator and star of the television series, Mrs Brown’s Boys, was named “philanthropist of the year” for his work with the Society of St Vincent de Paul. In 2013, O’Carroll gave €125,000 from ticket sales of a Mrs Brown’s Boys live show in Dublin to St Vincent de Paul and Irish Autism Action. He made an additional donation of €100,000 to the St Vincent de Paul Society.

O’Carroll makes no secret of the fact that he is repaying the help his family received from the Society when he was growing up in Dublin. “Every Friday night Uncle Vincent and Uncle Paul called up to the house to see if my mother was all right,” he said. “They would pay the ESB bill or give her some shillings for the gas and some broken chocolate as a treat.

We never had a bad Christmas, and as you get on later in life you realise, ‘oh, that was thanks to them’.” Last Christmas, he donated 2,700 turkeys to SVP to make sure those struggling to make ends meet could enjoy themselves.

SHOULD CONFIRMATION AGE BE RAISED? LIMERICK

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OPTING INTO THE FAITH

Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick suggested recently that confirmation should no longer be administered in the last years of primary school but deferred until the age of 16. Speaking during an event to mark Catholic Schools Week in January, Dr Leahy said it was important that young people should be re-awakened to the fact that being a Catholic is an option that is to be taken freely and after much thought.

“We can have wonderful sacramental ceremonies but the child finds little resonance between that and what is going on in his/her everyday life at home. Instead of coming to

know Catholic faith as a new, challenging and meaningful horizon that can be opted into, it is often appears like a pre-fabricated cultural package of Irish heritage we are born into and to be discarded nonchalantly later in life as part of our throwaway culture,” Dr Leahy said. This leads to the question of whether the traditional age of 12 is too young for confirmation. Postponing confirmation until the mid-teens might create space for parishbased programmes during what is, for many, a ‘transition year.' While some students might opt out, those who chose confirmation at this time might be able to enter into a more living ‘adult’ contact with their local parish.

Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick

CATHOLIC BURIAL FOR ENGLISH KING? LEICESTER

King Richard III

REALITY MARCH 2015

PETITION SIGNED BY THREE THOUSAND

The remains of King Richard III of England were discovered during archaeological excavations under a car park in the city of Leicester. The king died at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. It is planned to inter the remains in the city’s Anglican Cathedral.

However, nearly 3,000 people have signed a petition asking Cardinal Vincent Nichols to support the call for a Catholic funeral for the king. The petition was organised by Philippa Langley, who led the excavations

leading to the finding of the royal remains.

Dr Langley said that the reburial should take into account the king’s Catholic faith.

The Anglican diocese of Leicester and the Catholic diocese of Nottingham said “There is no requirement in the Catholic tradition for prayers to be said at the coffining of human remains, including those of a monarch. The arrangements agreed between the university and the cathedral have the full support of the Catholic Church.”

N E WS

IRISH BISHOPS AND GAZA HOLY LAND

SUFFERING AND SIGNS OF HOPE

Two Irish bishops, Kieran O’Reilly of Cashel and Raymond Browne of Kerry, visited the Holy Land as members of an international Catholic delegation. “The ongoing conflict assaults the dignity of both Palestinians and Israelis,” they said on their return, “but in a particular way our commitment to the poor calls us to lift up the suffering people in Gaza.” They described the conditions in which people in Gaza are forced to live “an assault on human dignity”.

One of the signs of hope they detected was in the work of volunteers, including those working on projects led by Trócaire, the Irish

Catholic aid organisation. The bishops said they would continue to oppose the building of a security

wall near Bethlehem which would result in the loss of land and livelihood for many Palestinian families and to the expansion of Israel’s settlement programme, which is illegal under international law. The bishops agreed that both

Palestinians and Israelis wanted the same thing, a dignified life worthy of the human person, and that peace will only come when all parties respect the fact that the Holy Land is sacred to three faiths and home to two peoples.

French Bishop Michel Dubost of Evry, Archbishop Patrick Kelly of Liverpool, and Bishop Raymond Browne of Kerry, concelebrate Mass at the Carmelite Monastery in Bethlehem, West Bank

CENTENARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

© The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute

Armenian orphans in Merzifon, 1918

ARMENIA

OLDEST CHRISTIAN NATION

This year marks the one hundredth anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Armenia prides itself on being the oldest Christian nation. It had its first encounter with the Gospel within a decade of the resurrection. By 301, Christianity had become the religion of the state. In the 15th century, it fell under the control of the Ottoman Empire that ruled most of the Middle East from Turkey. As it

was an Islamic state, the civil rights of Armenian Christians were strictly controlled.

The arrest of some 250 intellectuals and community leaders on 24 April, 1915 marked the beginning of a massacre. It was followed by the killing of the able-bodied male population and the deportation of women, children, the aged and infirm to a network of 25 camps on the Turkish borders with Iraq and Syria. Over one million, and perhaps as many as a million and a half members

of the Armenian community within the Ottoman Empire, now Turkey, were killed from 1915 until the end of the First World War. While western commentators have regarded these deaths as genocide, Turkey has refused to acknowledge it as such.

Many of the survivors emigrated to the United States and Europe. Some took refuge with the ancient community of their fellow nationals in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem. continued on page 6

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REALITY BITES POPSTAR HEADBUTTED POPE

SAVE ST MARY’S COLLEGE

VATICAN CITY

HEAD BANGERS

Ronan Keating has revealed an embarrassing moment that occurred when he was introduced to Pope Benedict at an audience in the Vatican. As the singer bent over to kiss the papal ring, he accidentally head-butted the pope’s hand. The singer was embarrassed but the pope simply smiled

BELFAST

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PLANS TO CUT FUNDING

Plans by the Northern Ireland Department of Education to slash funding to St Mary’s University College on the Falls Road, Belfast have met stiff resistance from many sections of the Northern community. Professor Peter Finn, head of St Mary’s, accused Stephen Farry, minister responsible for higher education, of abusing his power in a bid to shut the college.

Mr Farry plans to cut the subsidy to the college on the grounds that the existing system of five separate providers of teacher training is

unsustainable. The proposed cuts amount to 30% of its annual budget.

Fr Tim Bartlett, who has responsibility for education in the Diocese of Down and Connor, said that Mr Farry’s decision “undermines pluralism and choice in favour of a policy of forced integration, that is often a thinly disguised cover for intolerance of Catholicism and Catholic education itself." St Mary’s is a college of Queen’s University Belfast. It scores an impressively high standard of student satisfaction, which puts it among the top colleges in Britain and Northern Ireland.

ARCHBISHOP MARTIN OF ARMAGH ON ACADEMIC SELECTION Archbishop Eamonn Martin

ARMAGH

NONE TURNED AWAY

“In this day and age no young person should be turned away from a Catholic school on the basis of their mark in an entrance test at the age of 10 or 11,” said Archbishop Eamonn Martin in the course of a homily to mark Catholic Schools Week. Noting that 24 out of the 27 secondary schools in the Archdiocese had abandoned academic selection at the REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

transition from primary school, he said “I am completely confident that these fantastic schools shall be able to continue their outstanding service to Catholic education without the use of academic selection.”

He also observed that it is a cause for concern that two thirds of young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds are getting poor examination results at the end of the secondary school programme, and that less than 20% of boys from socially disadvantaged background are achieving that standard. “Too many of our young people are not making the transition to education, employment or training beyond the age of 16 and are ending up marginalised and often forgotten by the system.”

WEMBLEY

CATHOLIC YOUTH FESTIVAL

More than 10,000 young people are expected to attend FLAME 2 at Wembley Arena on 7 March, 2015. This will make it the biggest Catholic youth event ever to be held in the United Kingdom. Music will be led by Grammy award-winning artist Matt Redman. The day of prayer, reflection and celebration will include talks by Cardinal Luis Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, Baroness Sheila Hollins, president of the British Medical Association, who specialises in working with young people suffering with anxiety, and Father Timothy Radcliffe OP, former Master General of the Dominicans, who was named by the young people who attended an earlier Flame festival in 2012 as the speaker who had made the greatest impact on them. Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, will lead Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at the end of day.

N E WS

POPE MONITOR KEEPING UP WITH POPE FRANCIS CONFESSION IS A TIME TO ENCOUNTER GOD; IT IS NOT A DRY CLEANERS Pope Francis has said that, while people must be honest and specific about their sins in confession, they will miss the sacrament’s key grace if they are “completely mechanical” about listing their sins. Confession, the Holy Father said during a homily at morning Mass in his residence, is not a time for judgement, but for an encounter with the merciful God who is always ready to forgive those who seek pardon.

“So many times, confessions seem like routine, a formality. Blah, blah, blah. Completely mechanical! Where is the encounter in that kind of confession, encounter with the Lord who reconciles, embraces you and celebrates?”

Pope Francis said parents, priests and catechists should teach young people how to confess well, because “going to confession is not like going to the dry cleaners to have a stain removed. No! It is going to meet the Father, who reconciles, forgives and celebrates.

Even if you have lived a life of many sins, of many ugly things, but in the end you are a bit repentant, ask forgiveness. He will forgive you immediately. He always forgives.”

Pope Francis goes to confession in St Peter’s Basilica

DON’T LET RED HAT GO TO YOUR HEAD, POPE TELLS NEW CARDINALS In a letter to each of the 20 new cardinals he created in February, Pope Francis said that while they should graciously accept that their families and friends will want to celebrate, they should ensure that the celebrations are not over-done. “As good Christians, they will celebrate because Christians rejoice and know how to celebrate,” the pope wrote. “Accept it with humility.

Only do so in a way that in these celebrations there does not creep in a spirit of worldliness that intoxicates more than hard liquor on an empty stomach, disorienting and separating one from the cross of Christ.” The pope reminded them that their new role in the church is a call to greater service.

"It will do your heart good to repeat in prayer the expression Jesus himself suggested to his disciples to help them remain humble: ‘We are unprofitable servants’,” he said, quoting Luke 17:10.

THE NEED FOR FATHERS Speaking during a general audience on 28 January, Pope Francis said that in our modern societies, we are experiencing a crisis of fatherhood. In the past, fathers were often seen as authoritarian, and even repressive, figures. Today, there can be an uncertainty and confusion about the role of the father.

Recalling his experience as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he was often struck by how many modern fathers seemed to be caught by their job profession.

“Often,” he said, “when I used to ask men whether they took the time to play with their children, whether they had the courage and the love to spend time with them, their answers were often the same. I am too busy... I have too much work to do.”

The pope said that “without father figures, young people often feel ‘orphaned,' cast adrift at a critical moment in their growth and development”. Calling on men to be more active as fathers, he said they were guides for their children in wisdom and virtue.

DOVES OF PEACE REPLACED BY BALLOONS On the last Sunday of January, it has become traditional to release several doves as symbols of peace at the end of the pope’s noon Angelus. Last year, the doves were attacked by a crow and a seagull.

Animal rights campaigners requested the Holy Father stop the practice, reminding him that his patron, St Francis of Assisi, is the patron saint of animals. This year, a child read a speech on the theme of peace and a hot air balloon containing messages of peace was released. Other children in the square also released balloons.

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PERSON OF THE MONTH Reality Mulranny Bay, Co. Mayo

Volume 80. No. 2 March 2015 A Redemptorist Publication ISSN 0034-0960 Published by The Irish Redemptorists, 75 Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6, Republic of Ireland Tel: 00353 (0)1 4922488 Fax: 00353 (0)1 4927999 Web: www.redcoms.org Email: sales@redcoms.org

PATRICK O’HEALY BISHOP OF MAYO

8

(With permission of C.Ss.R.)

BORN: 1545 DIED: 1579

The little village of Mayo in the county of that name was the capital of a small diocese to which Patrick O’Healy was appointed bishop by Pope Gregory XIII in 1576. O’Healy is thought to have been born in Dromahair on the Sligo–Leitrim border about the year 1545. Details of his life are sketchy but it is known that in 1561 he was in the Franciscan novitiate and was educated at the university of Alcalá in Spain, from which he graduated with distinction. Later, in the Sorbonne in Paris, he impressed with his knowledge and debating skills.

A language difference already separated the Irish and English nations, and the Tudor monarchy was not prepared to tolerate a religious divergence as well. Followers of the Catholic tradition were confronted with the choice of acknowledging either the monarch of England or the pope of Rome as head of the church. O’Healy’s choice would lead to his execution before reaching his diocese of Mayo.

It was in Madrid that Friar O’Healy learned of plans for a religious fight-back in Ireland and became a supporter of the cause. He acted as diplomatic courier between the pope and Philip II. In 1576 he was made a bishop, and later that year delivered a letter from the pope urging the Spanish monarch to come to the aid of the Irish Catholics. At that time James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, a Catholic and able leader, was on the continent attempting to raise an army that would help drive the English out of Ireland.

In 1577 O’Healy set out for Ireland in the company of Fitzmaurice but after storms at sea they were driven back to the Spanish coast. O’Healy stayed in France until June 1579, when he managed to get a passage from Brittany to Dingle. With him as chaplain was Conn O’Rourke, another friar.

The events after they disembarked at Dingle are uncertain. One view maintains that on landing they were arrested by government officials; another that they made their own way to Limerick, where they were handed over to James Gould, the queen’s attorney.

The friars, it seems, were first committed to jail in Limerick and then brought before Sir William Drury, president of Munster, at Kilmallock. Under cross examination the bishop had no hiding of his identity; he was the new bishop of Mayo and had come to minister to his people. When questioned about the intentions of the pope and the king of Spain on an invasion of Ireland, O’Healy was silent. Drury was furious and ordered torture.

Since the torture yielded no result the only charge that could be brought against the bishop and his chaplain was that they upheld the supremacy of the pope as head of the Catholic Church. On this charge both men were condemned to death as traitors and hanged in 1579. On their way to the scaffold each gave absolution to the other and together they recited litanies and prayers. Patrick O’Healy was declared blessed in 1992.

John J. Ó’Riordáin CSsR REALITY MARCH 2015

Publisher Séamus Enright CSsR Editor of this issue Ciarán O'Callaghan CSsR Coordinating Editor Tríona Doherty Design & Layout David Mc Namara CSsR Business Manager Paul Copeland sales@redcoms.org Circulation Claire Carmichael ccarmichael@redcoms.org Finance Administrator Veronique Coller vcoller@redcoms.org +353-1-4067272 Administration Michelle McKeon mmckeon@redcoms.org +353-1-4922488 Printed by Turners Printing, Longford Photo Credits Catholic News Service, Photocall Ireland, Shutterstock REALITY SUBSCRIPTIONS Through a promoter (Ireland only) €18 or £15 Annual Subscription by post: Ireland €22 or £18 UK £25 Europe €35 Rest of the world €45 Please send all payments to: Redemptorist Communications, 75 Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6, Republic of Ireland 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 to another reader or recycle it. Thank you.

REFLECTIONS I arise today through the strength of heaven: light of sun, radiance of moon, splendour of fire.

ST PATRICK’S BREASTPLATE

All the world’s a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.

SEAN O’CASEY

Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!”

To aim at the best and to remain essentially ourselves is one and the same thing.

ROBIN WILLIAMS

JANET ERSKINE STUART

When all else is lost, the future still remains.

Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.

CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me.”

IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

ERMA BOMBECK

writer.

I had a very happy childhood, which is unsuitable if you're going to be an Irish

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.

CHARLES DICKENS

Someone who thinks death is the scariest thing doesn't know a thing about life.

SUE MONK KIDD

An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.

EMIL ZATOPEK

Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.

MARY OLIVER

MAEVE BINCHY

History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.

When one flower blooms, spring awakens everywhere.

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

J. F. KENNEDY

A lot of people get so hung up on what they can’t have that they don’t think for a second about whether they really want it.

Everyone wants to be appreciated. So if you appreciate someone, don't keep it a secret.

WINSTON CHURCHILL

MARY KAY ASH

LIONEL SHRIVER

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.

MAYA ANGELOU

A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.

MARK TWAIN

The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.

W.B. YEATS

Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.

EMILY DICKINSON

You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.

PABLO NERUDA

O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

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Ms Breda O’Brien

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EDI TO R I A L UP FRONT CIARÁN O'CALLAGHAN CSsR

DO JUSTICE, LOVE TENDERLY AND WALK HUMBLY WITH GOD

Lent

is the liturgical season when we keep solidarity with Jesus in his persecution, suffering and death. Saint Mark tells us that three times on his journey to the Holy City of Jerusalem Jesus predicted his fate that awaited him there. As we Irish Catholics make our Lenten journey towards Holy Week we keep solidarity with him through prayer, fasting and alms-giving. Other Christians do not have it so easy. For them solidarity with Jesus means actual suffering, real persecution in their own lives and very often death. When it comes to persecuting Christians, the worst offender for many years has been the paranoid dictatorship of North Korea ruled by Kim Jung-un. Under his rule Christianity is banned.

Christians, along with other religious people, are subject to arbitrary arrest, disappearance, torture and execution. Tragically, North Korea is only one of many states where Christians are a minority and are persecuted for their faith. It is reckoned that every month over 300 Christians are killed and 200 churches destroyed worldwide. Lent is a time when we remember our brothers and sisters in the faith and pray for them.

We also give thanks that we live out our discipleship in a modern democracy subject to the rule of law and where our human right to freedom of religious faith is guaranteed. Yet our society is far from perfect in its treatment of minorities and it is part of our call as Jesus’ disciples to speak the truth about this. Irish society has made good progress where sexual minorities are concerned. Homophobia and transphobia are recognised for what they are – wrong and unacceptable. Those who are subject to this kind of abuse are more readily listened to now and their experiences acknowledged. This is how it should be. But what of other minorities who experience

prejudice and abuse? Are we willing to listen to them and acknowledge their experiences also? Racism remains a serious problem in Ireland. In recent years violent racist incidents have shown a sharp increase. Only 20% of such incidents are reported because there is a significant gap in trust between victims of racial abuse and our justice system which does not have sufficient resources to protect them.

Irish Travellers consider themselves to be an ethnic group within our society. A few weeks ago, Emily Logan, the chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission called on the Government to enact legislation to recognise Travellers’ ethnicity. The Government has indicated that it will do so.

This is to be welcomed hugely. Yet the racism practised against Travellers is so all-pervasive that it is only recognised as such by a small minority of people. As is anti-Semitism which is increasing across Europe especially among supporters of hard right political parties. We are not immune from it in Ireland where there have been a number of anti-Semitic incidents in recent months. If we Irish Catholics want to be in solidarity with Christian minorities who are persecuted overseas, then Lent must be a time when we undergo a conversion of mind-set where minorities here are concerned.

Solidarity with Jesus in his sufferings means listening to the stories of all our minorities, acknowledging their experiences and speaking up for them.

Much has changed in Ireland in recent years.

The very concept of ‘Catholic Ireland’ is now a myth. The co-dependent relationship of Church and State – responsible for so many ills of our dark past – is thankfully no longer.

Our political leaders remind us frequently that Ireland has embraced Western liberal

secular values. One of the consequences of all this change is that Irish culture no longer supports religious faith as it used to in the past.

There is a greater tendency nowadays in our culture to be more critical, suspicious or even hostile towards religion in general and towards Catholicism in particular. I see this at times in the national media but most particularly in the social media where people can express blatant anti-Catholic hatred – anonymously – under the guise of freedom of speech. So we live our Catholicism in changed and challenging times.

The challenge for us is to continue to seek dialogue with our culture for the good of all in Ireland and to live our faith with integrity.

Many centuries ago the Prophet Micah asked, “What is it that God wants of you?” Micah’s answer was, “Do justice, love tenderly and walk humbly with God.” It’s a good plan for Lent. If we could follow Micah’s plan, then we would keep faith with Jesus, give true witness to our society and be in genuine solidarity with persecuted Christians everywhere.

Ciarán O'Callaghan CSsR Editor

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C OVE R STO RY

SUFFERING FOR THEIR FAITH “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, 12 and each one of you is a part of it.”

1 Corinthians 12:26

CHRISTIANS ARE BEING PERSECUTED FOR THEIR BELIEFS IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD

BY TRÍONA DOHERTY

Last

July, Pope Francis met Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese woman who had been condemned to death, while pregnant, for refusing to recant her Christian faith. Meriam, whose father was Muslim and whose mother was an Orthodox Christian, was sentenced to death over charges of apostasy, but later given a reprieve. Under

REALITY MARCH 2015

Islamic law, in her native Sudan Meriam is considered a Muslim because of her father’s religion. The case brought international outcry, with calls for Ibrahim to be released.

Images from her subsequent meeting with Pope Francis went around the world, as well as the Pope’s words thanking her for her example of “faith and courage.” Another case

which came to attention almost a year ago was the kidnapping of 273 schoolgirls, the majority of whom were Christian, in Nigeria

by Boko Haram terrorists.

Unfortunately these cases are just a snapshot of the suffering faced by Christians in as many as 80 different countries. Much of it fails to capture the attention of the

13

Men carry a boy after he was shot during a confrontation between Muslims and Christians in Bangui, Central African Republic.

He died shortly after this photo was taken

world’s media, so we are not even aware of it.

However the plight of our suffering brothers and sisters certainly appears to be to the forefront of Pope Francis’ mind and he has on several occasions highlighted the need for action. Recently, he called for a “global defence” of those who suffer due to lack of religious freedom, and a “mobilisation of

consciences” among political leaders and people of goodwill to protect those suffering.

“With great trepidation, I am following the dramatic incidents of Christians in several parts of the world being persecuted and killed because of their religious beliefs. I must express my deep spiritual closeness to the Christian communities so harshly struck by

an absurd violence that does not show signs of stopping,” said Pope Francis recently. “They have a right to find security and peace in their own countries while freely professing their faith.” This Lent, we focus on Mark’s Gospel, which was written around the year 70 AD and directed at the early Christians who had been through a painful experience

C OVE R STO RY

Pope Francis bleses Meriam Ibrahim and her child Coptic Christians grieve during funeral for victims of sectarian violence in Cairo

Iraqi police guard a Christian church in Mosul

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A Christian girl, with severe burns due to sectarian violence, sits in a shelter in Raikia village in the eastern Indian state of Orissa

of persecution. As we prepare for our Easter celebrations, it is an ideal time to reflect on situations where Christians are persecuted or discriminated against for their faith, to pray, and maybe even offer some material assistance where possible.

Ruins of a church burned down in attacks in northeastern Nigeria

While some degree of religious persecution can be found on every continent, the highest levels are found throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The report described the rising tide of anti-Christian persecution as “catastrophic.” Christians remain the

Of the 196 countries in the world, 81 countries – or 41% – are identified as places where religious freedom is impaired or is in decline THE BIG PICTURE In many parts of the world, religion can literally be a matter of life or death. Admitting to one’s faith can lead to persecution, homelessness, displacement, violence, imprisonment, or even death. Experts say there is ongoing discrimination against Christians in over 80 different countries.

International charity Aid to the Church in Need launched its Global Report on Religious Freedom last November, which found that religious freedom is at risk in 60% of the world’s countries. The report can be viewed at www.religion-freedom-report.org.uk.

REALITY MARCH 2015

most persecuted religious minority, due in part to their geographic spread and high relative numbers. However, Muslims, Jews and other religious groups are also experiencing a serious degree of persecution and discrimination. Of the 20 countries that showed high levels of persecution, in 14 of these the persecution was linked to extremist Islam, while in the remaining six countries the persecution was due to authoritarian regimes. Of the 196 countries in the world, 81 countries – or 41% – are identified as places where religious freedom is impaired or is in decline.

Director of Aid to the Church in Need in Ireland, Declan Quinn, says that persecution can take a number of different forms, including in countries such as our own where religious freedom is not seen as a contentious issue. “Religious freedom is the most fundamental of all human rights. There are different forms of persecution against Christians – there is the physically violent form in places such as Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and West Africa, and there is the low level but very real cultural persecution taking place in our own part of the world. It is a less obvious violence, but no less real,” says Declan. “People on the frontline in other countries are facing external suffering. We are not challenged as openly, but we also have to struggle to maintain our faith. The Church is persecuted because of what we preach – we preach a God of love and forgiveness, and the inviolable dignity of every person. We are awkward for people in power, because we say God is in charge, not them. We are persecuted because of the Gospel. It goes with the territory.”

Pakistani Christians protest after attacks in Lahore

Coptic Orthodox bishop prays with local residents at a damaged church in Minya, Egypt

Debris seen in church after clashes in Syria

A car burns at the scene of a bomb explosion outside St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, Nigeria

STORIES OF SUFFERING Middle East and Iraq In recent months, there has been a lot of focus on the Middle East due to the widespread persecution of Christians and their expulsion from northern Iraq by the Islamic State. Northern Iraq had been one of the last refuges for Iraqi Christians after the civil war in Syria, but now they are being driven from there too, with many Christian villages falling to Islamic State fighters. Many who refused to convert were tortured or killed, including children. Last December brought the shocking news that four children under the age of 15 had been beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam. Last summer, reports emerged that Iraqi Christians, who had been driven from their homes, were dying in crowded refugee camps from disease, thirst and malnutrition. Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad said that “death and sickness are grabbing the children and elderly people among the thousands of refugee families spread over the Kurdistan region.” Sahar Mansour, a former

university lecturer who had fled her home and was living in the Ankawa refugee camp outside Irbil, said 70,000 refugees there were also afraid that Islamic State fighters had the capacity to hit the camp within half an hour of launching an attack: “It is an easy target for ISIS to attack. We are facing a human catastrophe and risk a real genocide.” According to the UN, while Christians represent less than 5% of the total Iraqi population, they make up 40% of the refugees now living in nearby countries. It is thought that over 250,000 Iraqi Christians have fled northern Iraq amidst ISIS persecution.

Empty bullet cartridges found after clashes between Muslims and Christians, Minya, Egypt.

the widely publicised ‘Bring Back our Girls’ campaign, Boko Haram refused to release them. Most of the kidnapped girls were from Christian families but others were Muslim. At the time of writing, 219 girls remain prisoners of the group; Boko Haram leader Abubaker

Boko Haram want to establish a state with Sharia Law. They have a particular hatred of education, especially for girls. They want to drive out Christians; there have been attacks on government offices, churches and schools

Nigeria In Nigeria, the Islamic militant group Boko Haram has been targeting Christians and the government for over five years. Boko Haram grabbed worldwide attention last April when the group kidnapped over 270 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in north-east Nigeria. Despite international pressure and

Shekau has claimed that many of the girls have been forced to convert to Islam and married off to members of the terrorist group. Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, has expressed his anguish over their plight: “We tried dialogue and it didn’t

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C OVE R STO RY

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work; the Government used force and it didn’t work… At this stage, what we need to do is to pray – only God can move the heart of these people.”

Director of Irish group Church in Chains, David Turner, says the fact that the majority of the kidnapped girls were Christian is not accidental. “It is a tactic that has been used over the last few years. Part of Boko Haram’s modus operandi is to target young Christian girls and marry them off. The publicity has gone off the situation, but it is a continuing issue. Sometimes boys are also kidnapped to be taken and used as soldiers. Boko Haram want to establish a state with Sharia Law. They have a particular hatred of education, especially for girls. They want to drive out Christians; there have been attacks on government offices, churches and schools.

In the last few months, Boko Haram has developed from organising terrorist attacks to taking over towns and territory, and a refugee crisis is beginning to emerge. Tens of thousands of Christians have become refugees.” Despite an announcement on 17th October last year that a ceasefire had been agreed between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram, the group continued to carry out attacks on villages in northern Nigeria. Two days after the ceasefire, armed extremists attacked two churches in Taraha, killing 31 people, while the same weekend over 60 young women and girls were abducted from two predominantly Christian villages in Borno.

Other countries A sharp increase in violence against Christians has been reported across India, particularly targeting new churches in rural areas. In June, 10 Christians were injured when extremists from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) attacked their church building in Bastar District in central India. And in July, a pastor in the small village of Gosampally was beaten up by Hindu extremists while he was preaching in his church building.

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Lord, vary across the provinces. the pligh More information on specific t of our co untry is d e e p cases can be found at www. and the s u ff e r in g Christians acnireland.org and www. of the is heavy a churchinchains.ie. nd frighte ning us, therefore , we ask y ou Lord to assign SUPPORT IN IRELAND our lives, g rant us p and coura Last August, a special Mass was atience ge to contin organised in Dublin by Aid to the ue to wit ness our values Christian Church in Need to pray for Christians with trus being persecuted, particularly in the t and hop e.

Lord, pea Middle East. In his homily, Fr Robert ce is the b ase of an Give us p y life; McCabe said: “Let’s appreciate the fact eace and stability to live w that we can gather safely in prayer this ith each other wit and anxie hout fear evening and pray that civil, religious and ty, with dig military leaders will work to provide safe nity and joy, glor forever. y to you lodgings, holy rest and peace at the last Prayer for the Christ for our brothers and sisters who suffer this ians in Ira Chaldean q, from Catholic P night, this month, this year.” People were atriarch Lo uis Sako also urged to walk to Mass on 31st August as a gesture of solidarity with persecuted Christians.

In Pakistan, Asia Aid to the Church in Need is one of a Bibi, a Christian farm labourer number of groups and organisations in Ireland and mother of five, is the first woman to be who are monitoring the global situation, raising sentenced to death under the blasphemy laws. awareness of the plight of Christians and The charge arose in 2009 after Asia challenged offering practical assistance. Director Declan Muslim women who refused to drink from the Quinn says their mission is to help strengthen same water bowl as her, and she was found the persecuted church around the world. guilty of defiling the name of Muhammad. Her “Aid to the Church in Need gathers two types case has been appealed, but it may be several of resources – spiritual and material. Last years before it is heard. In March 2011, Shabhaz year we were active in 140 countries. There Bhatti, the only Christian in Pakistan's cabinet, is always more to do than the money that is was shot dead in his car by the Taliban. He had available, but we are trying to do all we can. been an outspoken opponent of the blasphemy Our hope is that people will feel moved by laws and a supporter of Asia Bibi. what’s happening and that they will want to There are also suggestions that some of the do something about it. We need to pray, and countries where persecution is deepest are the respond as best as we can to the cries of our very countries where there are restrictions on beleaguered brothers and sisters. The people reporting, such as North Korea and China. In who are suffering on the frontline of the China, it is estimated that there are 100 million church and our benefactors here in Ireland Christians, including 12 million 'underground' and around the world who support them Roman Catholics. Christians who attend materially and spiritually are true witnesses registered churches are free to worship within to hope.” Internationally, Aid to the Church in limits, but these churches are strictly controlled Need recently donated a package of €4 million and their leaders appointed by the Communist in aid to deal with immediate challenges in Iraq, Party. Others arrange their own independent such as providing accommodation and supplies gatherings in 'house churches.' Many of the for displaced people throughout the winter. leaders of these churches suffer harassment, Church in Chains is another Irish group fines, arrest and even torture, though the levels working to help suffering Christians. The

organisation has its roots in the evangelical Christian community, and as director David Turner puts it, “If anyone suffers because they bear the name of Jesus, we will support them.”

David outlines three types of suffering faced by Christians. “There are three broad categories – the first are countries where many if not all Christians face imprisonment, torture and violent attacks, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Eritrea. The second are countries where there is significant persecution, such as India and China – in some parts Christians have relative freedom of worship but in other parts there is significant persecution. The third are countries with limited persecution, for example Turkey, where there are churches open but there might be limitations on the activities that can go on there, or on the ability of a local church to choose a leader.”

Advocacy is an important part of Church in Chain’s work, with members engaging regularly with ambassadors of various countries to express concern about different situations. “We

highlight that these activities are in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which these countries have signed up. We are not asking for privileged status, all we are asking is for freedom of religion – for Christians but also for other religious minorities who are suffering,” says David. Church in Chains are also members of an NGO standing committee on human rights, where they speak for religious freedom, and engage regularly with TDs and Senators.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs has made a number of statements on the subject in the last six months. Addressing the UN General Assembly in September, Minister Charlie Flanagan said: “We strongly condemn all forms of persecution or discrimination based on religion or belief. The persecution of Christians and other minorities in the Middle East and the recent rise of anti-Semitic attacks, particularly in a number of European countries, are causes of grave concern for me. The bloodlust and inhumanity which ISIS is displaying in Syria

and Iraq has shocked and appalled all civilised people. The destruction and displacement of the ancient Christian communities of Northern Iraq has been harrowing to witness.”

HOW CAN WE HELP? Groups working to help persecuted Christians around the world say the first thing we can do to support them is pray. Aid to the Church in Need invite their supporters to become a “Missionary of Joy” by pledging to offer up one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be every morning between now and Easter Sunday 2015 for all those around the world suffering for their Christian faith.

You can also make a donation to support humanitarian aid and other projects to help those affected. Details of how to donate can be found at www.acnireland.org or www. churchinchains.ie.

Triona Doherty is a journalist with the Advertiser newspaper group and is a regular contributor to Reality.

SEEK A NEW DIRECTION

EXPLORE RELIGIOUs SISTERS OF CHA RIT Y

The Love of Christ urges us on – as Sisters of Charity we continue to live a journey of loving service in the Spirit of our Foundress Mary Aikenhead who spent her life in love serving ‘God’s nobility the suffering poor’.

The rest of your life is starting now – Is God inviting you to share in this same journey of loving service as a Sister of Charity, as a friend of Mary Aikenhead or as volunteer in one of our services?

Take the first step and contact Sr. Rita Wynne on 086 343 4448 or email ritawynnersc@eircom.net

You can also get more information on our website www.religioussistersofcharity.ie

COMMENT THE WAY I SEE IT KATY DOBEY

“WILL YOU ASK?”

OVERCOMING FEARS – WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR SIBLINGS

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My sister and I were both shy children. We especially tried to avoid having to ask strangers for anything. If sent to the shop to pick up bread or milk, we would happily collect the items, pay for them and bring them back home.

But if sent to ask for certain types of batteries or yesterday’s paper, we would spend the whole fiveminute walk fighting about who had “to ask.” “Will you ask?” one of us would whine as soon as we set off and then the rest of the short journey each of us would try to justify our individual causes for not “asking.” I always complained that I was the youngest (which was true) and my sister always moaned that she’d asked the last time (which was usually also true).

I can picture us now, standing at the back of the shop scowling and muttering at each other, thinking nobody noticed us, but probably drawing much more attention to ourselves by our argument than any questions about batteries or newspapers could ever attract.

At some stage at our destination, one of us would crack under the pressure and work up the courage to put the question to the shop assistant.

I remember the feeling of achievement once such a job was completed. It didn’t matter who “asked” in the end (and it usually wasn’t me), both of us felt a sense of triumph once out of the shop with goods in hand. Even if they didn’t have what we were looking for, just coming home confident of the knowledge was REALITY MARCH 2015

a great accomplishment. We had overcome fear, anxiety and stress to achieve our goal. If I had done the questioning myself, I felt the success of having overcome my fears. On the flipside, there was also a certain sense of success at having won the battle of wits not to have to do the asking myself.

In the end it was a win-win after all the stress to begin with!

As children we weren’t used to asking questions in an adult way. I always felt I had to rehearse the words of the question in my head and those words seemed unnatural and unreal, making me feel all the more self-conscious.

Even as I grew older, I sometimes amazed myself by what I would confidently say on the spur of the moment versus what, on another day, I might tie myself in knots trying to get out.

When I had just turned seven and my sister was eight, we moved to Germany. Being that young and attending local primary school, we started to pick up the language within a few months.

Interestingly, I don’t remember the same anxiety surrounding questions in the local bakery that we went to every morning. We would be sent to that shop, we’d queue with everyone else and happily I remember rehearsing and then actually pointing to what I wanted (not knowing the names) and saying “eins bitte,” before handing over the money.

Sometimes when shopping with my parents, my understanding was better than theirs and we had to rely on each other to work out meanings and translations.

I had to take part in the adult conversation and slowly I began

to learn that the grown-ups didn’t bite! When necessary, I could step up, but there was something about having the comfort of my older sister with me and not having to do the asking myself that stayed with me and kept our argument alive, even after I’d realised I could be brave enough to “ask” for myself.

While in college, my sister and I used to work together in our local shop. We both worked the long Saturday shift. Every week, local children would come in looking for goods for themselves or their families, buying magazines and Mars bars, batteries and bread.

While most of the children were confident in their dealings with us, we would sometimes see two brothers or sisters, acting just as we had – trying to subtly push the other forward while they cowered behind, afraid to ask for a postage stamp or a box of tissues. We would share a smile of recognition and try to be as kind and encouraging as possible to the shy siblings. Despite our knowing smiles, however, we still revert to this position upon occasion. When faced with a conflict, a complaint or difficult question in any situation that the two of us are together, I often find myself looking to my older sister wondering how I can get her to “ask” first.

If you agree, disagree or just want to add your own thoughts to our comment pieces, email: editor@redcoms.org or write to: The Editor, Redemptorist Communications, 75 Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6

LE N T

PONTIUS PILATE

PILATE DOMINATES THE FINAL HOURS OF JESUS’ LIFE. WAS HE A BRUTAL GOVERNOR, COWARDLY POLITICIAN OR EVEN A SAINTLY HERO? 19

BY GEORGE WADDING CSsR

Two

things can be said with certainty about Pontius Pilate: he was short-haired and clean-shaven, according to the imperial fashion of the day.

There are so many mythical legends about him it is very hard to discover even the name his mother called him. Pilatus is a sort of honorary nickname given to his family because of the skill of one of his ancestors with the spear or javelin (the pilum). An English equivalent might be something like “lancer.” The name Pontius describes his clan, the Pontii of Samnium in the centre of Italy.

Romans looked down on the Samnites as sort of rustic buffoons, “wild and clumsy as horses.”

EARLY AMBITION Pilate was born about the same time as Jesus of Nazareth. As a child he would have spent several years at school scratching his steel

stylus on a wax slate. Mathematics, reading, writing and rhetoric (the art of persuasive speaking) were his subjects. If his family was rich enough he might even have had a slave to carry his schoolbag for him.

At the age of 17 he began preparing for a career in public service, maybe a commission in the army. For this he would have to become known in Roman society, ingratiate himself with various minor officials, and maybe even get an army commander or a patron at court to recommend him to the powers-that-be.

Scholars believe that Pilate may have found such a patron in Lucius Aelius Sejanus, a conniving intimate of the emperor Tiberius. Like his father before him Sejanus was given charge of the Praetorian Guard, the

elite bodyguards of the emperor. The writers Philo and Josephus maintain that Sejanus was anti-Semitic and planned to destroy the Jewish race completely. He may have injected his vitriol into his protégé Pilate. The emperor himself was probably also anti-Semitic. But when the machinations of Sejanus were ultimately revealed, Tiberius realised that many of the charges brought against the Jews were fabricated by Sejanus. So in 32 AD he issued a decree throughout the Empire not to mistreat the Jews.

Pilatus is a sort of honorary nickname given to his family because of the skill of one of his ancestors with the spear or javelin (the pilum) But we are ahead of ourselves.

Pilate belonged to the Roman social

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red cloak. He ate the same porridge as they did, sang the same bawdy songs and drank the same sour wine – the “vinegar” that was offered to Jesus on the cross.

© Robert Hoetink / Shutterstock

The lithostrotos pavement on the Via Dolorosa in the old city in Jerusalem is alleged to be the place where Pilate brought Jesus to stand before the people

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class known as Equestrians or Knights, a rank below the nobles. However, being of the Equestrian class was no guarantee of automatic promotion. That’s why he needed good patronage in Rome. And he was evidently successful in this. At 17 or 18 he would have joined the military tribune class that would lead eventually, one hoped, to a foreign posting as the governor of a province. Pilate was more an administrator than a fighter. But still he most likely did

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several tours of military service. Even as a lower-ranking officer he would have been spared the most arduous hardships like long marches. There were slaves to carry his gear and rank and file soldiers to dig ditches and put up camp palisades. He was in charge of the pay, food and floggings in his unit. He took the oath of allegiance to the emperor every third of January and on the anniversary of the emperor’s accession. He slept in the open with the other soldiers in his regulation

GOVERNER OF JUDAEA In the end Pilate achieved his ambition and was appointed governor or prefect of a small province called Judaea, Samaria and Idumea in the year 26 AD. The job may not have amounted to much but it could be a stepping stone to more illustrious appointments.

Pontius Pilate was the fifth governor of Judaea and the second longest holder of the office – he held it for ten years. He had five infantry cohorts and a cavalry regiment under his command (about 3,000 men in all) for the maintenance of order – an unusually large force for such a province. Many of the soldiers he recruited were from the most barbarous inhabitants of the province. If he needed extra forces to quell a riot or uprising he could call on the Roman Legate of Syria, the supreme military commander in those parts. He had absolute authority in managing his own province and was answerable directly to the emperor. Caesarea, not Jerusalem, was his administrative centre. He moved himself and some troops up to Jerusalem at the Jewish Passover or at other festivals when large crowds might threaten the peace. Pilate’s duties were judicial, military and financial. His judicial authority was unrestricted in both civil and criminal cases against ordinary provincial persons. Negative popular reactions to his rule, however, could lead to an imperial review of his actions. And that did happen.

The Jewish first-century historian, Josephus, details Pilate’s hatred and baiting of the Jewish people. Philo speaks of him as inflexible and merciless. The Jews hated him because he showed little consideration for their religious susceptibilities. Was it a prejudice he picked up from Sejanus in Rome? Soon after arriving in Judaea, he had ordered Roman standards brought within the city of Jerusalem under the cover of night, knowing that it would infuriate the Jewish people’s beliefs about the sanctity of the city. When they protested he

threatened to kill many of them and not until they bared their throats to be cut did he give way. On another occasion Josephus relates how Pilate used money from the Temple treasury to build an aqueduct. When the Jews assembled outside his quarters to protest, he ordered soldiers to dress like the Jews and mingle among the crowd. On his signal, the soldiers drew clubs hidden in their clothes and beat and killed many Jews. Later on, Tiberius himself ordered him to remove certain gilt shields, which he had set up in Jerusalem in spite of the protests of the people. There was also the incident mentioned in Luke’s Gospel (13:1) of “the Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with the sacrifices.” Pilate was, therefore, understandably anxious that no further hostile reports should be sent to the emperor concerning him. Besides, by the end of 31 AD, Sejanus’ seditious scheming had been uncovered. He was relieved of his position as commander of the Praetorian Guard. He was arrested, tried and summarily executed (strangled) and his body unceremoniously cast down the Gemonian stairs – all in a single day. Pilate had lost his patron and protector in Rome. He must now tread carefully. And the Jews knew this. Did Pilate really believe in the Roman religion, in the cult of the emperor and the Roman gods? It is difficult to say. But, as in our own day, “public devotion is often a cover for private doubt.” Externally at least, his job and life depended on his visible practice of imperial worship.

I have not mentioned Pilate’s wife (Mt 27:19).

Her name, Claudia Procula, is found in one of the Apocryphal (unapproved) Gospels, like the names of Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary. She was supposed to have been the granddaughter of the emperor Tiberius. But this is unverifiable legend. Her intervention on behalf of Jesus, though futile, has merited her name being added to the canon of Greek and Coptic saints. Her Greek feast day is October 27.

PILATE AND JESUS Pilate’s name would have faded from history were it not for the fact that he presided over the trial and execution of Jesus. Still, the Gospels are kind to him. Pilate, despite his unfavourable reputation among his own contemporary writers, appears to

have genuinely believed in the innocence of Jesus and tried to release him. Maybe he had matured; or maybe once more he saw an opportunity to thwart the Jews who had occasioned him so much sorrow with his Roman superiors. Remember the sequence of events as told in John’s Gospel. Jesus was led from the house of Caiaphas to the Praetorium. The chief priests wanted Jesus crucified and only Pilate had authority to do this. So they conjured up the crime of sedition which would place the case firmly in Pilate’s lap.

Pilate’s first ruse to outwit the chief priests was to tell them to try Jesus by their own law. But that did not work. He then questioned Jesus further about his claim to be “King of the Jews.” This conversation convinced him that Jesus was no threat to the temporal powers. And then Pilate hit on a master stroke: he would offer the crowd a choice: Barabbas, a notorious murderer, or Jesus, a good and innocent man. To his horror, they chose

Barabbas. At his wits end, he had Jesus scourged, and the soldiers, to mock his claim to “kingship,” placed a crown of thorns on his head. It was a final appeal to the humanity of the crowd: “Look at the pitiable creature you want to crucify; he is

Pilate’s name would have faded from history were it not for the fact that he presided over the trial and execution of Jesus

In her fascinating book, Pilate, Ann Wroe writes: “... The Pilate we think we know is a mixture of dozens of invented men, each symbolic of something: the State facing the individual, the pagan world opposing the Christian one, scepticism versus truth … He represents either man’s free will, or his hopelessness before fate, or his struggle to distinguish good and evil, or the tyranny of hard choices. People ceaselessly project their own ideas and anxieties on him.”

as innocent as a baby (I find no cause in him).”

But the chief priests and the guards rallied the crowd to shout once more for Jesus’ crucifixion.

The chief priests said he must die because he had claimed to be the Son of God. Of course, this could be very dangerous if the “divine” Tiberius heard of it. So Pilate questioned Jesus further on this claim and again found nothing criminal in his replies. He had now played all his honour cards but the chief priests held the last trump: “If you set him free you are no friend of Caesar.” They had him. They struck at his Achilles heel, and Pilate caved in. But at least this weak man did try.

He knew what was right and was anxious to do it, provided it could be done without personal sacrifice. The Abyssinian Church considers him to be a saint, and celebrates his feast day (with his wife) on June 25.

Not long after Jesus’ trial, Pilate’s rule came to an end. Many armed Samaritans had gathered on Mount Gerizim in search of alleged treasure buried there by Moses. Pilate, thinking it was a rebellion or a decoy for trouble elsewhere, sent his troops in and many were slain. The people appealed to Vitellius, the legate in Syria, saying that nothing political had been intended, and complaining of Pilate’s whole administration.

Pilate was summoned to Rome to answer their charges, but before he reached the city the emperor Tiberius had died. Caligula was on the throne. That is the last we know of Pilate from authentic sources. He vanished into the mists of time and legend.

Fr George Wadding CSsR is a Redemptorist from Waterford. He is a well-known author and a regular contributor to Reality.

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R E D E MP TO R I ST LI FE

MY JOURNEY OF FAITH NIAMH O’NEILL, WHO IS A LAY MEMBER OF THE REDEMPTORIST NATIONAL MISSION TEAM, SHARES SOME KEY MOMENTS ON HER JOURNEY OF FAITH.

Niamh O'Neill

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believe in God without question because he has heard me calling in the night too many times and has answered me. I also believe in free will and I know how powerless I am over other people’s life struggles. Like anyone else when faced with pain or hardship, I ask, “Where is God?” I know that God is there for me but until that moment when I actually trust God I remain in pain. This bigger picture quite often has nothing to do with other people but more often to do with myself. When I think of my faith in terms of the bigger picture, barriers come down, lost opportunities arise and hearts mend.

The bigger picture! I am the youngest of five children. My mother is still alive but my father has passed away. Being the youngest I was the last out the door to school and I had two precious years with my mother when she had a chance to begin passing on the Catholic faith to me. “A bicycle made for two, me and you. You showed me the dawning!” My young days began on the back of my mother’s bicycle, ever vigilant not to catch my feet in the spokes, as she peddled to morning Mass. I watched the world go by.

Morning Mass, big church, no children (maybe one or two), lots of talking in monotone, very sleepy, snuggling in close to my mother as she prayed. Night time in a child's mind holds

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mystery and the unknown. The older I got, the more excited I became about night; I loved the effect of light and dark, and the place where I loved it most was in the silence of the candle-lit church. O God, how your peace resonates! It stirred in me a peace, a stillness with warmth, love and hope. Back then there was no place I would rather have been. Yet life does not allow you stay in a state of bliss. Instead life's true nature is to rock you from side to side, sometimes gently, often ferociously, and it can take all your power

not to fall over. Should you do so, it takes massive strength to get back up. My faith in God is my “massive strength.”

GOD’S HAND WAS GUIDING ME One night in my late teens I found myself on a beach at a party. The flames from the fire danced on the young people’s faces as they danced in rhythm to the beat of the drums. My heart was beating too – but it was a fast beat of fear and anxiety. I was in a place that was unfamiliar

Niamh with fellow missioners, Fr Denis Luddy CSsR (left) and Fr Ciarán O'Callaghan CSsR (right)

My faith journey has brought me to recognise that God is greater than the church. I see that our church needs continuing change. It has to be a safe place because so many of us who are vulnerable need a place to meet God in love

© Eamonn Keogh MacMonagle, Killarney

Niamh leading the singing at a recent Redemptorist mission

Niamh O’Neill is a member of the Redemptorist National Mission Team.

to me. The people were mere acquaintances and although God’s hand was so evident in the surroundings, the moon, the stars and the lapping waves, his presence was hard to find.

I took myself closer to the tide and sat by the water. I wanted to be alone but through the darkness a person arrived at my side with a warm hello and knelt down beside me. Simon was his name. I was not sure what Simon's purpose was, being at that beach party, but when he came to talk to me his words were reassuring among the many unspoken words that were going on within me. As I recall the event I remember that being a teenager is not easy and I was no different from most other teens. I was influenced by the people, places and things around me, and what worked for me as a child regarding faith in God, got lost as a teenager and I became disillusioned. The Catholic Church no longer held any attraction for me and so my faith rambled aimlessly. As Katy Perry sings, “I stood for nothing and I fell for everything.”

My 21st was a real turning point for me in my faith journey. I was not sure how I wanted to celebrate this milestone but I knew I wanted to do so with my parents. Looking back over my life I saw that what made us most happy was our faith time as a family, be that saying the rosary,

going to Mass or praying at meal times. That time always seemed to have within it a presence of peace and hope. So I decided to celebrate my birthday with Mass. I arranged for our local parish priest to come to my family home. Needless to say my mother was over the moon! The finest linen and crystal bowls adorned the altar. No stone was left unturned for the “Lord coming to our house.” That winter’s evening as the flames danced in the hearth, family and friends gathered together. God was in my home, in my heart and in the faces of those who surrounded me. I read somewhere once that fear is a lack of faith and that growing in faith lessens fear. That was God’s gift to me that evening.

A PLACE TO MEET GOD I was very fortunate in my early twenties when living in Galway to have met and dated a young Muslim man called Zeb. He was from Pakistan and was living and working in Ireland. Zeb’s religion was of the utmost importance to him and this was new to me as my peers were certainly not practising their faith or talking about God. In the time we spent together we were able to share with each other aspects of our faith lives. This and other experiences broadened my mind where

God is concerned. When another friend of mine came back after a year of travel she had many ideas and concepts that were new to her, and one that she spoke passionately about was Buddhism. This got me thinking more about what I actually believed in and how I wanted to practise my faith. I found myself asking whether I would do as my friend did and follow Buddhism, because like her I was searching for God. However, my searching brought me closer to God within my own Catholic faith tradition. This has not been the case for all Catholics, as our church has been associated with lies and deceit. Yet my faith journey has brought me to recognise that God is greater than the church. I see that our church needs continuing change.

It has to be a safe place because so many of us who are vulnerable need a place to meet God in love. Sometimes when the familiarity of my tradition seems stale and my faith grows weak and I get disillusioned, my mother still challenges me with the question, “What do you bring to your faith, Niamh?” I answer, “My presence. My participation. To sing joyfully. To pray passionately. To trust God more. To smile with an open heart and to leave judgments at the door!” And so my journey continues.

23

THE VAT I CA N

FR FEDERICO

LOMBARDI LEADING THE PRESS IN A DANCE OF THE SPIRIT BEHIND POPE FRANCIS

BY SUSAN GATELY 24 Things

are never dull when you are Pope Francis’ press director. Some days Francis leads his press corps on a merry adventure but according to the director of the press office, Fr Federico Lombardi, the Pope is keeping up with the Holy Spirit and they try to keep up with him.

As director of the press office of the Holy See, the Jesuit priest is there to serve journalists, providing the texts of what the Pope says, explaining documents and publicising the work of the various departments or ‘dicasteries.’ Fr Lombardi worked in Vatican Radio from 1991 and Vatican TV from 2001 so the gentle Jesuit has grown into the role to which Pope Benedict XVI appointed him in 2006.

At any given time there can be 600 accredited journalists at the Vatican. At the canonisations of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II, that number rose to 2,000. During the conclave, Fr Lombardi was looking after 6,000 journalists.

It is a lot of work, and under Pope Francis the workload has increased, although staff numbers at the press office remain at 20. What is generating the additional work, of course, is Pope Francis’ wonderful propensity to be spontaneous.

REALITY MARCH 2015

KEEPING TABS ON POPE FRANCIS A PR person will tell you PR is about control – having all the information at your fingertips for journalists – the background, the characters, their history. But how do you do that with a man who pushes the rules of protocol to one side, who in the midst of a visit to Korea which has been planned to the nth degree will agree to baptise a man because he asks for it?

“The pope has a lot of initiative. He's very

creative. It's an exciting time,” Fr Lombardi tells me and another 40 journalists in the Vatican press conference room. “We have to learn not be bound by our own perspectives. We're learning to follow the Pope in his way.”

Fr Lombardi draws a firm distinction between the Pope's public or official communications (which they disseminate through instruments like the daily bulletin), and those of a pastoral or personal nature, like his famous telephone calls, his meetings at Santa Marta or words to a sick person lying on a trolley at a roadside where he stops.

Pope Francis follows the Holy Spirit's inspirations of the moment. In Korea, before celebrating Mass at the World Cup Stadium in Daejon on 15 August 2014, the pontiff met some family members of victims of the Sewol ferry tragedy. Among these was Lee Ho-Jin (62) who had made a long pilgrimage carrying a

We have to learn not be bound by our own perspectives. We're learning to follow the Pope in his way

cross and praying for his young son who died on the ferry. When he met the Pope, he asked for baptism. According to Fr Lombardi the Pope asked Lee: “Are you ready?” Yes, was the reply. “Then he was happy to say yes,” recalls Fr Lombardi. Afterwards the Pope explained to Fr Lombardi: “This was a sign. I was asked and I have done what I was asked.” Lee was baptised in a simple 20-minute ceremony. The Pope's Korean translator officiated; Pope Francis conducted the immersion and anointing.

The challenge for the press office of course is when a personal relationship (like one of the Pope’s unexpected telephone calls to someone who has written to him) becomes a public event that all the media are writing about, and is viral on the internet. Fr Lombardi admits

Communications, this will ever more be the case. Currently Vatican Radio covers the Pope’s inspirational daily homilies from Santa Marta (the guest house where he lives), translating and broadcasting them by radio, television and on the internet.

The press office puts out the Pope’s official talks like his Wednesday audiences and the homilies at St Peter’s Square which always have to be checked against delivery, as the Pope loves to include personal experiences, and invariably these are the pieces journalists latch on to, coming, as they do, straight from the Pope's heart. It adds to the delight he inspires, but means more work for his translators and press corps. In Korea, Pope Francis ventured to speak in English. Fr Lombardi says “with practice”

Pope Francis greets media aboard the papal flight from Rome to Seoul. Fr Lombardi (far right) leads the impromptu press conference

he sometimes has to ring one of the papal secretaries telling them he has heard certain rumours. “I ask, ‘Can I speak about that or is it very private?’”

When they are away on a trip, he meets Pope Francis regularly, but ordinarily days can pass without a personal meeting. Instead he keeps regular contact with the Pope's secretaries who verify facts and provide information. “I don't disturb him [the Pope] continually. He knows me and he knows where I am.” He is protective of Pope Francis, happy to arrange interviews with Vatican personalities, but “I'm ready to say ‘No!’ for interviews with the Pope!”

POSITIVE SURPRISE The communications organs of the Holy See (television, radio, newspaper and PR) do try to work together and with the appointment of Lord Christopher Patten to oversee Vatican

his English is improving. “Korea was a good experiment but he desires to be spontaneous and he can only do this in Spanish or Italian.”

Asked if the Pope is surprised by his own popularity, Fr Lombardi says he is. “He comes from Buenos Aires. Before becoming Pope he was not present at other international meetings – his first World Youth Day was at Rio.” The Pope's enthusiasm is a gift of God and “not something he prepared as a strategy”, says Fr Lombardi. “He has continued to act the way he acted in his pastoral work in Buenos Aires.

He has a lot of dialogue with different people and a personal way of integrating this into his activity.”

As an example of this, the director of the press office cites the Pope's conversations with journalists on the plane trips to and from visits abroad. “Many come back totally exhausted from these trips, but he [the Pope] has the

energy to do it. It is in tune with his style of having personal contact with everyone.”

Before the election of Pope Francis, Fr Lombardi says they were stuck in a “terrible circle” of negative prejudice. When Francis was elected, a journalist friend warned Fr Lombardi that the “positive surprise” that is Pope Francis, would only last a couple of weeks. Instead the Pope has continued to delight and attract people, and more and more media want to report on him.

“I think in the end journalists are normal people,” says Fr Lombardi, “even if they are tempted to give bad news for a scoop, they are happy to give good news too. And giving journalists the chance to say something positive is wonderful.”

He has continued to act the way he acted in his pastoral work in Buenos Aires. He has a lot of dialogue with different people and a personal way of integrating this into his activity All of the daily communications coming from the Holy See - including the Pope’s talks and interviews on television and radio, his homilies at Santa Marta, and news from the Church around the world from the Fides news agency are now present on one site: www.news.va.

For smartphones, all of Pope Francis’ talks and homilies come daily to The Pope App. Susan Gately is a freelance journalist and author.

Her series for Reality on the new movements in the Church was published as a book by Veritas in 2012 (God's Surprise - the New Movements in the Church). Susan is Irish multi -media correspondent for Catholic News Service in Washington.

25

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COM M E N T CHRISTIAN PARENTING CARMEL WYNNE

SELF TALK

PARENTS AND CHILDREN HAVE DIFFERENT WAYS OF INTERPRETING THE WORLD Poor communication is one of the most common problems at work, at home and in our world.

Misunderstandings between parents and children are frequent.

The reaction to miscommunication can range from minor irritation to angry outbursts, and develop into lifelong parent and child resentments. Finding solutions to communication problems has been the focus of much research and many, many studies.

Research has shown that each of us has a unique way of thinking and processing information. We pay attention to some aspects of reality and ignore others based on how we individually use our brains.

It’s accepted that people communicate through a set of filters shaped by their personal history, sense of identity, beliefs about what is true and by their values about what is right and wrong. People have a real emotional response to what they believe to be true even when it has little to do with the reality of the situation.

Rational emotive therapist Albert Ellis suggested that we talk to ourselves in what he described as an unending dialogue that colours all our experiences with private meanings. He said we are constantly describing the world to ourselves and making judgements about each event or experience.

This internal dialogue he called “self talk” which he compared to a waterfall of thoughts cascading down the back of the mind. Our thoughts are constant and so powerful that they create the most intense emotional responses.

One reason why such frequent misunderstandings occur between parents and children is that each person makes an interpretation of what is seen, heard and expected of the other. Each person makes a judgement based on what is perceived to be good or bad, painful or pleasurable.

Let me explain. Suppose a woman suddenly stands up in a crowded theatre, slaps the face of the man she is sitting beside and hurries over to the nearest exit. Each person watching the event has a response in his or her own idiosyncratic way.

One woman is frightened, a teenage boy is angry, a middle aged man feels concerned and a social worker feels a pleasurable excitement. There is an explanation for why the same event triggered such very different emotional responses in the people watching.

The fearful woman thought the man was going to be angry when he got home and imagined the other woman would be in trouble.

She recalled an experience she had.

The teenager thought the man just wanted a kiss and was feeling angry that the woman had humiliated him. The middle aged man who reacted with sadness was saying to himself, “Now he’s lost her and he will never get her back”. He pictured his ex-wife’s face set in anger. The social worker felt excited. Her internal dialogue was, “It serves him right. What a strong woman, I’d love to bring some of my timid women clients down here to see this”.

The observer’s emotional response in every case was a consequence of how the event was interpreted, judged and labelled. No two people will ever experience the same event in exactly the same way because each person makes a judgement that reflects how the situation is seen from his or her perspective.

Psychologist Virginia Satir says that, “Every word, facial expression, gesture or action on the part of the parent gives the child some message about his or her worth”.

Misunderstandings between parents and children are inevitable because adults and young people have very different ways of looking and interpreting what they see.

Satir suggests that communication is like a film camera equipped with sound. It works only in the present, right here, right now. This is how it works. The parent looks at the child and makes a judgement based on what is seen and heard, on his or her expectations in the situation and on the interpretation of what this means, calling on past experience. Meanwhile the child is doing something similar. The young person sees, hears, feels emotionally, thinks something, and has values that influence how meaning is made of what is going on.

Not understanding how easily misunderstanding can occur is responsible for much disappointment and hurt in relationships. Both parent and child have a real emotional response to what they believe to be true. Body language and eye contact are also significant in the judgements we make. For example a teenager could interpret a parent looking away as rejection and feel hurt and disrespected.

When judgements and fantasies are not checked out they will be accepted as “the facts” and miscommunication results.

A parent who understands the importance of self-talk has the skills to communicate positively and improve every facet of family relationships.

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

27

F E AT U R E

A HERITAGE LIKE NO OTHER

JUDITH CHARRY IS A MEMBER OF IRELAND’S SMALL BUT ENERGETIC JEWISH COMMUNITY. INTERVIEWED BY SUE LEONARD

What

28

Judith Charry

REALITY MARCH 2015

is it like to be Jewish in Ireland in 2015? How has the community adapted over the years, and is there any anti-Semitism, with the recent war in Gaza? To find out, Reality spoke to Judith Charry, the daughter of an American Rabbi who has lived in Ireland since 1989. In her late forties, Judith Charry is an active member of Ireland’s Jewish community. She gives regular talks on Judaism to schools and also to adults, and says her religion is simply part of who she is. “I observe strongly,” she says. “And the instructions, as laid down in the Scriptures, govern every aspect of your life. They govern what you wear, how you eat, how you conduct your business, and how you relate to other people. When I go clothes shopping, I have to check labels. My faith prohibits mixtures of blended animal and plant fibres, so I can’t wear wool mixed with cotton.

Mixing something that doesn’t happen naturally is humans presuming to go one up on God. I’ve had to

leave some lovely clothes on the rail!”

Judith’s husband Carl, who is also Jewish, was brought up in Ireland. He went to New York in the 1980s with the idea of emigrating.

He took the New York State Bar exams, but after two years there, decided he wanted to leave. Meanwhile, he had met and married Judith. “Carl is fourth generation Irish on his mother’s side. He missed Ireland, and asked me if I was willing to try living there, and I said I was. It was a culture shock at first,” she says.

“The Jewish community was very welcoming, but it was a small community and that was new to me. My father was a Rabbi, and we had moved around the States quite a bit when I was a child; up and down the East Coast as he moved to different positions but the communities were always large.”

AN EVOLVING COMMUNITY “In the 1940s and 1950s the Jewish Community in Ireland numbered between four and five thousand. But by the time I arrived in 1989 it had been affected by the recession, reflecting what happened to so many people, and there were less than a thousand people. The vast majority lived in the Dublin area, though there were some in Cork and a few individuals in Limerick.

There was a degree of negativity, and a concern about the continued viability of the community. To keep it running in any meaningful way you need a quorum of at least 200 committed people who are willing to take part in all the activities. Without a good number, it’s not viable to provide

medium term contracts with some of the big companies like Google and PayPal. Some get involved in the community and when they leave, others arrive.”

Judith’s children Jessica, 16 and Sarah, 10, attend the Jewish School in Rathgar.

Judith taught there when she first arrived in Ireland. “We take nonJewish pupils now, and that works well,” she says. “In the primary school there are prayers followed by an hour of Jewish studies. Secular studies start at 10. We have facilities for nonJewish students to have their own religious instruction if they want to take that up. Every McDonalds, Tel Aviv month we give a presentation, explaining aspects of the Jewish faith to everyone, so non-Jewish students are aware of it and are knowledgeable.”

The first reference to Jews in Ireland was in 1079. But the more modern story dates from the 1660s when three Portuguese set up a synagogue in Crane Lane in Dublin’s Temple Bar.

And the instructions, as laid down in the Scriptures, govern every aspect of your life. They govern what you wear, how you eat, how you conduct your business, and how you relate to other people. facilities like a synagogue, a shop to provide kosher food, and a school. Luckily, with the upturn in the economy the numbers revived, and now there are approximately 1800 Jewish people living in the Dublin area, some in Cork, and a sprinkling round the country. “There is someone in every county of Ireland,” says Judith. “The community today is interesting. A relatively small number of people were born in Ireland, many have returned, and some came from South Africa a few years ago. We also have a significant transient population of people on short to

“There they had been told they could either leave Portugal or convert to Christianity.

They had outwardly converted, and arrived as Protestants. In the 1860s a community of Jews from Lithuania arrived in a block.

They set up as traders and peddlers, or set up business as tailors or furniture makers.

They would write to their families, saying Ireland was a place of opportunity, and the community grew.”

In the main Ireland welcomed them. But in 1904 there was a serious boycott in Limerick, stirred up against the Jewish community.

“It was started by a Redemptorist priest, Father John Creagh. A lot of Jews had arrived at the time, escaping the Russian empire. Small shopkeepers, they seemed to be settling well, but some native Irish were suspicious of them because they dressed and acted differently. Father Creagh preached against them for several Sundays in a row.

He said, ‘they are coming in and taking our jobs.’ There was some physical aggression.

Many Jews left as a result. That incident is sometimes referred to as the Limerick Pogrom, but it was never officially endorsed, and there was little support for the boycott from within the church. Politicians spoke out against it, and Father Creagh was eventually disciplined.”

John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin from 1940 until 1972, tried to squelch one of the earlier Jewish Christian groups – a discussion group called Pillar of Fire founded in 1941 by Frank Duff (leader of the Legion of Mary). But Archbishop McQuaid was helpful, too. “While he was still Archbishop special

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other faiths, but she very much hopes they marry within it. “It’s part of their identity,” she says. “Jessica, at 16, is asking questions, and I think that’s healthy. She’s asking, ‘why does our community interpret things one way and others another?’ She’s working out what interpretations and level of observance she is happy with. At the moment her friends give parties on a Friday night. That’s awkward when we can’t travel. She understands that and explains it to her friends herself.”

The most orthodox of Jews forbid any physical contact between men and women outside marriage. Most discourage sex before marriage.

What are the main restrictions imposed by Judith’s faith? “We couldn’t live outside Dublin or Cork with my level of observance,” she says.

“It’s hard to eat out, except in vegetarian

Limerick city in the 1900s and insert, Fr John Creagh

30

dispensation was given to Jewish shops, allowing them to open on Sundays – because they could not open on the Sabbath.” Today, the Bretzel bakery – first established in 1870 – still exists, but most of the kosher shops have gone. “Kosher food is now available in Supervalu in Churchtown,” says Judith. “They have a dedicated aisle.”

LIFE IN IRELAND Many Jews have excelled in Ireland. “The community is represented far beyond its size in all areas of Irish life. It’s prominent in medicine, law, and all aspects of the arts, and in politics. There was a time when there were three Jewish members of the Dáil, one from each main political party.” Whilst there are incidents

been incidents of anti-Jewish feeling, but there’s always been respect for those who observe the faith; even in the days when it wasn’t policy to do so – before Vatican II reversed that.

“The Sabbath starts at sundown on a Friday, and in winter that is early,” she says. “Someone with observance will want to be home before sundown because after that you are not allowed to travel. People are able to make arrangements with their place of employment to work extra hours on other days or to take holidays. And companies are amenable about religious festivals too. State exams frequently coincide with Pentecost, and we have a longstanding agreement with the Department of Education so that when there’s a conflict, exam papers are allocated on different dates.”

In her work explaining the Jewish faith, Judith finds that people are extremely interested. “There are some things that can be misunderstood,” she says. “The term ‘The Chosen People’ is frequently misinterpreted. It’s taken to mean exclusivity, but as we understand it means we have chosen to live by these guidelines. I think it’s a good way of life and not so much a right as a responsibility.” Judith enjoys taking part in interfaith groups and discussions.

She’s happy that her children have friends from

I like being in a small community, but I sometimes miss having the resources of a larger one. Yet we do have a remarkable range of resources here, and a very busy calendar with all sorts of things going on of anti-Semitism, and it has been seen in the media over last summer, Judith had never been personally affected. “Overall, Jewish people haven’t had problems in Ireland. There have REALITY MARCH 2015

Terenure Synagogue

restaurants, and I have to be extremely good at reading food labels, to check, for example, that there’s no carmine or gelatine in yoghurts. I like being in a small community, but I sometimes miss having the resources of a larger one. Yet we do have a remarkable range of resources here, and a very busy calendar with all sorts of things going on. In New York I was able to try different communities to find one I was comfortable with, but it’s easier to feel lost. I like the responsibility a smaller community gives. I like the friendliness. And when you participate you know you count. In a larger community one person more or less does not make a difference.”

For more information on the Irish Jewish Community visit www.jewishireland.org Sue Leonard lives in Wicklow. She is a freelance journalist and best-selling author who frequently contributes to Reality.

PASSOVER

FREEDOM FROM PERSECUTION UNDERSTANDING THE JEWISH CELEBRATION

BY BRENDAN McCONVERY CSsR

Some

years ago, the local rabbi invited me to take part in the Passover with his family. As the guests were assembling in the dining room, I chatted with an elderly man sitting next to me. After a while, he rolled up his sleeve, pointed to a number tattooed on his wrist and asked me, “Do you know what this is?” I hesitated for a moment, then looked at his face and said, “Is it by any chance a concentration camp number?” “Yes,” he replied. “I was brought to Belsen when I was ten years old. I am the only member of my family to have survived.”

The Passover commemorates God’s deliverance of Hebrew slaves from the oppression of Egypt under the leadership of Moses. Early in the celebration, the leader reminds those taking part: “Each of us must this night remember that they have come out of the Land of Egypt.” Part of the spiritual preparation for Passover is “remembering

your Egypt”. For the old man sitting next to me, like millions of other camp survivors, “Egypt” was the years spent as a child in the fear and misery of the concentration camp, separated from parents and watching his companions slowly succumb to disease and starvation. For many Russian Jews, “Egypt” was the Soviet Union and the threat of the gulags in Siberia for anyone who dared criticise the regime. For others, “Egypt” can be years of alcoholism from which they have escaped with the help of friends and family. For others still, it can be an abusive relationship from which they have eventually found freedom, even if the night of escape was as much a call to faith as it was to their ancestors to enter the divided waters of the Red Sea. Passover is the ancestor of our Easter celebration. According to the Gospel accounts, Jesus died at Passover time.

According to the synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke), the Last Supper was a Passover meal and during it, Jesus instituted the Eucharist. That is why our Easter and Passover usually take place around the same time. Passover is the first full moon after the spring equinox no matter what day of the week it occurs. For Christians, Easter must always fall on a Sunday, so it is the Sunday after the spring full moon.

Passover lasts one week. During this time, everything containing leaven or yeast is avoided. This includes not just bread, cakes or biscuits but also drinks like beer and whiskey!

It is also an occasion for a thorough springclean of the house. All leaven is removed and ceremonially burned outside. Since many products can contain greater or smaller quantities of leaven, that poses a problem for the Jewish community. A shopkeeper, for example, may have an extensive supply of

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F E AT U R E

unsold food containing leaven or a family may have a few bottles of whiskey for a special occasion.

Long ago, the rabbis found a way around that problem. In the home or shop, all leavened goods are carefully put away, even outside if possible. Then the rabbi “sells” them to a friendly Gentile with the exchange of goods and money to take place the following week. On the last night of Passover, the rabbi calls off the sale, which of course the other person is expecting but for that one week, the community technically does not “possess” any leaven!

32

THE SEDER MEAL The most important observance of Passover is the seder. Seder is a Hebrew word that means “order.” The seder has been growing for more than 3,000 years. Originally, it was a meal to be eaten in haste, standing and dressed to start the journey to freedom as soon as the command to depart was given. In the intervening centuries, it has become a leisurely meal that begins after the evening synagogue service around sunset and continues into the small hours of the morning.

The seder has three main parts. The most important is the ceremonial meal at which the symbolic foods are eaten. Then there is a

plentiful festive meal, often based on fish as the main course: lamb is not eaten at Passover today as there is no Jewish Temple in which to offer the lamb in sacrifice. The final part is a long grace, including special psalms, as well as some traditional party games and comic songs to keep the children entertained.

During the first part, the story of the deliverance from Egypt is told. Although the most important parts are still recited in Hebrew, it is an active narrative in which those present take part by song and prayer. Children play an important role at the seder. The Book of Exodus itself sees the Passover meal as a vital part of a Jewish child’s education: “When your children ask you, ‘what does this ritual mean?’ you will tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice

in honour of the Lord Yahweh who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, and struck Egypt but spared our houses'” (Exodus 12:26-27). One of the children asks four questions and it is around these that the Passover narrative is constructed.

Answering the questions takes time but briefly the answers are something like this. Our ancestors had no time to allow the bread to rise so they baked it unleavened.

The bitter herbs are a reminder of the bitterness of the exile in Egypt.

The salt water reminds us of the tears of the exile. Reclining at table was a sign of leisure and reminds us that we have escaped from slavery.

A ceremonial dish is the chief table decoration at Passover. It contains the ritual foods.

Although lamb is no longer eaten, a lamb bone is a reminder of the offering of the Passover lamb. A hard-boiled egg, with its shell partially burned, reminds the assembly of the daily offering in the Temple. Unleavened bread, or mazzah, recalls the dry hard bread that had no time to rise. One of the tastiest Passover foods is charoset. It is a sweet sauce made from fruit (grated apple mostly), ground nuts and spices, combined into a paste with sweet wine. It is meant to recall the mortar the slaves used in their building work for their Egyptian overlords.

The Passover questions are •On all other nights we eat bread or unleavened bread, so why do we only eat unleavened bread tonight?

•Every other night we eat all kinds of vegetables and herbs, so why do we only eat bitter herbs?

•Every other night we don't dip our vegetables in salt water, so why do we dip them twice tonight?

•Every other night we eat sitting up straight, so why do we eat reclining tonight?

REALITY MARCH 2015

In contrast to it, bitter herbs, such as grated horse radish, are also eaten as another reminder of the bitterness of slavery. Since this is a festival meal, wine is drunk. It begins with a blessing over a cup of wine that might sound familiar to Catholics from its use in the Mass: “Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.”

THE POWER OF MEMORY Passover is a powerful symbol of the enduring power of memory. For more than 3,000 years, Jewish communities have been remembering the Exodus and finding new meaning in it for today. It was in keeping with the spirit of Passover that Jesus told his disciples “Do this in memory of me” and that we continue to do it using two of the essential foods of Passover, unleavened bread and a cup of wine. Passover is also a feast that looks forward to the future. Every seder ends with the words “Next year in Jerusalem!” Jerusalem is the mother city of every Jewish person. For centuries, most of them were unable to visit it, yet as they celebrated the seder, whether in the snowy lands of northern Russia or Lithuania, they gave expression to this wish for a national home. They have it now in the state of Israel, a troubled place, and Passover with its story of people unjustly treated can also be a narrative that gives hope

for a new kind of Israel in which justice for all will flourish.

Towards the end of the meal, the children open the street door of the house to see whether a visitor who is expected at every seder has arrived. The visitor is the Prophet Elijah who was mysteriously taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot.

Jewish tradition believes that he will return to announce the coming of the Messiah and that coming will take place at Passover time. There is a similar sense of expectation in the Christian festive meal of the Eucharist. After the consecration of the bread and wine, we profess our faith that “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”

Passover this year begins on the evening of Friday 3 April (our Good Friday) and ends on the evening of Saturday 11 April. As we celebrate Easter, we remember our Jewish brothers and sisters and wish them Chag Sameach, or “Happy Feast Day”.

Fr Brendan McConvery CSsR is a Redemptorist from Belfast. He is a well-known biblical scholar, author and a regular contributor to Reality.

Volunteer Overseas with a Faith-Based Organisation Since 2002 Vincentian Lay Missionaries have been making a difference to the lives of communities across Ethiopia. In 2015 we are announcing an exciting new project in Ghana.

We welcome retired people, those considering career breaks and volunteers for our annual 4-week summer programmes.

Visit www.vlm.ie

or contact Mary Anne Stokes on info@vlm.ie or 01-8102570/087-1397069 Photo: Volunteer Aoife Ní Ríordán with Tsion & Fikerte at Atse Primary School, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Volunteers Needed: •Teachers •Educators •Administrators •Community development workers •Individuals with leadership skills to share

GOSPEL OF MARK

MARK A GOSPEL FOR PERSECUTED AND STRESSED CHRISTIANS

MARK’S IS THE FIRST OF THE FOUR GOSPELS, WRITTEN AT A TIME OF INTENSE SUFFERING. IT'S A GOSPEL WHICH STILL OFFERS COMFORT FOR THOSE WHO ARE PERSECUTED FOR THEIR CHRISTIAN FAITH

34

BY DENIS McBRIDE C.Ss.R.

We

can celebrate Saint Mark as the first Evangelist who shaped the story of Jesus in the form of a written Gospel.

He wrote around the year 70 AD when the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. Following that event, Israel ceased to exist as a nation until the State of Israel was established in 1948 AD. Mark has no infancy stories or genealogy of Jesus. He begins with an adult Jesus who leaves home to connect with John the Baptist in the wilderness and concludes his Gospel with the fearful women at the tomb. The church later added the last few verses (Mark 16:9-20) to make for a more harmonious ending.

Mark’s work contains only about 30 verses not found in Matthew or Luke, who were happy to use Mark’s writing, but toned down

REALITY MARCH 2015

his critical observations of Jesus’ family and disciples, each adding infancy stories at the beginning and resurrection appearances at the end. In spite of the fact that it was the first Gospel to be written, it was widely ignored by the early Church Fathers. It fared little better in the life of the church where it was rarely used.

Only after Vatican II, following the liturgical reforms, did Mark’s Gospel eventually find its rightful place in the community – almost 2,000 years after it was written! Little wonder that Mark’s narrative has been called “the Cinderella of the Gospels”.

relentless conflict, where we see Jesus in friction not only with Satan and the religious authorities, but with those close to him, his own family and disciples. After returning to Nazareth, now as prophet and teacher, his

In spite of the fact that it was the first Gospel to be written, it was widely ignored by the early Church Fathers

DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? Of all the Gospels, Mark’s is a story of

own people refuse to accept the change, staying stubbornly with what they already know of him as “the son of Mary.” Jesus’ family believe him to be out of his mind and they try to take charge of him. Jesus’ chosen disciples fare little better: they are portrayed

as chronically dull, failing to understand the parables and missing much of his teaching.

Jesus confronts them: “Do you not yet understand? Have you no perception? Are your minds closed? Have you eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear? Or do you not remember?” (Mark 8:17-18). All the disciples abandon Jesus in Gethsemane, including a young follower who leaves his laundry in the hands of the arresting party, running away naked. No member of his family or his disciples is present at the crucifixion.

If there is something Mark does not engage in, it is celebrity worship. He does not put the original disciples on pedestals, portraying them as fervent and flawless, but shows them straining to understand the person and teachings of Jesus. This will give us, as Mark’s readers, hope: through our own vulnerability we must strive to follow the Lord in our own

time. Of all the Gospels, Mark presents us with the human Jesus, one who struggles, who is bewildered, who is hurt, who gets angry and eventually, in Gethsemane, the one who begs God to release him: “Take this cup away from me”. For many people it is Mark’s Gospel that seems nearest to our own generation, one that seeks understanding and enlightenment through stress and struggle.

The importance of Jesus’ death for understanding his true identity is illustrated by the fact that no human being in Mark’s Gospel recognises or understands Jesus as the Son of God until after his death – and then

the acknowledgement is made not by one of Jesus’ followers but by a Gentile, a centurion in the Roman army (Mark 15:39). Until Jesus fulfils his destiny on the cross, his true identity remains hidden. Jesus’ true identity is most clearly revealed in the title that summarises his destiny, the Son of Man. In Mark this is the term Jesus applies to himself, and no one else calls Jesus by this title. Whenever Jesus’ identity is the issue in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus responds by referring to himself as Son of Man. The question about who he is can only be answered when one understands what he must do, and it is the Son of Man title

For many people it is Mark’s Gospel that seems nearest to our own generation, one that seeks understanding and enlightenment through stress and struggle 35

THE G O S P E L O F MARK

36 'The Fire of Rome' by Hubert Robert 1765

which tells that story. No other title serves to capture the undivided unity between the person of Jesus and his destiny. Because of who he is, Jesus is destined to suffer. Is that also true of Mark’s community? Because of who they are as followers of Jesus, does that mean that they are destined to endure the suffering of the cross?

CONSOLING A PERSECUTED CHURCH If Mark was addressing the Roman church, he was writing for a community that had already suffered persecution and probably lived in fear of more of the same. In the summer of 64 AD a fire broke out in Rome that raged unchecked for a week and destroyed half the imperial city. Popular rumour claimed that the fire had been officially ordered

by Nero himself. To divert suspicion from himself, Nero chose a scapegoat in an already REALITY MARCH 2015

unpopular religious minority, the Christians, who were disliked for their exclusiveness and antisocial behaviour. The Roman historian Tacitus relates how Nero arrested known Christians and then, on information collected from them, condemned large numbers of others. Tacitus goes on to describe their execution: “Their deaths were made farcical. Dressed in wild animals’ skins, they were torn to pieces by dogs, or crucified, or made into torches to be ignited after dark as substitutes for daylight.”

For the last three years of Nero’s reign (65–68 AD), being a Christian was a capital crime in Rome. During that time the

Christian community had to face the reality of misrepresentation, betrayal, arrest, false accusation, persecution and violent death – including the loss of Peter and Paul. Clearly the Roman church needed strengthening after its own time of suffering and passion.

If Mark was addressing the Roman church, he was writing for a community that had already suffered persecution and probably lived in fear of more of the same Although it seems unlikely that persecution was the reason for Mark’s writing, his Gospel would have addressed such a community in its time of uncertainty. There is a warning that some who receive the word will endure only

for a while: “should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, they fall away at once” (Mark 4:17). Those who have left home and families to follow Jesus will not only receive a hundredfold “now in this age” but will have to live “with persecutions” (Mark 10:30). In Mark 13:9-13 the followers of Jesus are warned explicitly about persecution they will face. This catalogue of suffering is originally told in the passion story of Jesus.

For Mark, the pattern of Jesus’ passion merges into the experience of his followers, just as his followers can see something of their own experience reflected in the suffering of Jesus.

If the passion of Jesus becomes the key that opens up the mystery of his identity, so the passion of those who come after him will indicate their true identity as his followers.

In hearing the Gospel, Mark’s community is helped to see that the story of their own suffering, like the story of Jesus’ suffering, is not some catastrophic mischance that is devoid of meaning, but a chronicle of

salvation that was waiting to be told, one that rested within the prophecies of Jesus and the providence of God. HEAR THE STORY Listening to Mark’s Gospel read at one sitting or reading it in its entirety allows Mark’s dramatic narrative to speak as a whole story. It exposes the listener or reader to the great impact of the narrative itself. A picture emerges of a pastor building up the faith of his community by reflecting on the identity and destiny of Jesus, and inviting them to think of the consequences of their own discipleship in taking up their cross and following Jesus.

Fr Denis McBride CSsR is a Redemptorist of the London Province.

He is a well-known Scripture scholar and author. This article is an edited excerpt from Diary 2015 for the Year of Mark, available from Redemptorist Publications at www.rpbooks.co.uk.

th

Praying Rosary

a journey through scripture and art

by Denis McBride C.Ss.R.

Fr Denis McBride C.Ss.R. takes a fresh look at the rosary in this beautifully illustrated book.

Through the four sets of mysteries he takes us on a leisurely journey through twenty episodes in the lives of Jesus and Mary, offering us prayerful insights along the way.

The format for each decade is simple: first there is a reading from scripture, which is followed by a reflection on the passage; a painting is also included which offers its own take on the subject, accompanied by a brief reflection; finally there is a prayer on some aspect of the mystery. Focusing on a scriptural understanding of the mysteries, this prayerful book will prove a sure companion for everyone who loves the rosary.

PRICE: €17.95 CODE: 1556 P&P: €3.95 ISBN: 9780852314159

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Breaking the Word... March 2015 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: CLIFDEN, CO. GALWAY 8th – 16th March 2015 Solemn Novena preached by Denis Luddy CSsR and Laurence Gallagher CSsR CLONARD, WEXFORD TOWN 8th – 14th March 2015 Parish Mission preached by Brian Nolan CSsR, Brendan Keane CSsR and Ms. Niamh O’Neill DINGLE, CO. KERRY 26th – 28th March 2015 Parish Triduum preached by Brian Nolan CSsR, John Hanna CSsR and Ms. Niamh O’Neill EDERNEY, CO. FERMANAGH 21st – 28th March 2015 Parish Mission preached by Laurence Gallagher CSsR and Michael Dempsey CSsR

KINGSCOURT, CO. CAVAN 21st – 28th March 2015 Parish Mission preached by Denis Luddy CSsR, Ciarán O'Callaghan CSsR and Ms. Sarah Smyth

SHANAGOLDEN, CO. LIMERICK 7th – 13th March 2015 Parish Mission preached by Derek Meskell CSsR and John Hanna CSsR

NEWTOWNARDS & COMBER, CO. DOWN 28th February – 8th March 2015 Parish Mission preached by Johnny Doherty CSsR, Peter Burns CSsR and Ms. Sarah Smyth

TERMONFECHIN, CO. LOUTH 21st – 28th March 2015 Parish Mission preached by Brendan Keane CSsR and Johnny Doherty CSsR

SEAPATRICK [BANBRIDGE], CO. DOWN 28th February – 8th March 2015 Parish Mission preached by Ciarán O’Callaghan CSsR and Noel Kehoe CSsR

WEMBLEY, LONDON – ST JOSEPH’S PARISH 14th – 21st March 2015 Parish Mission preached by Derek Meskell CSsR and Séamus Enright CSsR

The details above are accurate at time of printing. If you have any views, comments or even criticisms about Redemptorist preaching, I would love to hear from you. If you are interested in a mission or novena in your parish, please contact me for further information. And please keep all Redemptorist preachers in your prayers!

Ciarán O’Callaghan CSsR, Provincial Delegate for the Proclamation of the Word Email: delegate@proclaim.ie Tel: +353-1-4067253 The Redemptorist National Mission team is fully booked until October 2015. We are now taking bookings from November 2015 onwards.

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COM M E N T REALITY CHECK PETER McVERRY SJ

OUR NEGLECTED CHILDREN

WHO WILL HELP THE YOUNG VICTIMS OF OUR UNJUST SYSTEMS? Some 9,000 reports of suspected abuse or neglect of children, or concerns for their welfare, are waiting to be allocated a social worker. Of these 3,500 are classified as “high priority cases.” In September 2014, the Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan, expressed concern that in parts of the country “safe social work” was not possible. Donal O’Malley, chairman of the Irish Association of Social Workers, has said, “by not intervening early enough, there is a danger of awful things happening, or children ending up in care.”

Lack of resources poses huge challenges for the Child and Family Agency in seeking to protect the most vulnerable children in our society – 160 posts remain vacant and services are operating at about 70% of their staffing levels. And it may get worse. The Children First Bill, when passed by the Oireachteas, will make it mandatory for certain professions such as clergy, medical persons, gardaí and teachers to report child protection concerns to social services. When mandatory reporting was introduced in New South Wales in Australia in 2000, there was a six-fold increase in the number of referrals.

More than 1,000 children in Ireland live with arthritis. Dr Orla Killeen, a consultant at Crumlin Children’s Hospital, has said, “Early intervention with aggressive treatment is essential to prevent juvenile arthritis extending to multiple joints and results in a more positive outcome for children.” The British Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology says children

must be seen within four weeks of referral. But the lack of resources means that children in Ireland typically remain on waiting lists, in pain and discomfort, for more than two years.

Over 530 children are stuck on waiting lists for orthopaedic surgery, some of whom need urgent treatment for spinal curvature. Delays in treatment can cause increased deformity in a growing child, who may need more complicated surgery as a result.

Some 3,000 children, who have been assessed as in need of speech and language therapy, have been waiting more than a year for therapy. A further 1,940 children have been waiting for an assessment for more than a year, despite the fact that they have a statutory entitlement, under the Disability Act, to an assessment of their needs within six months.

The HSE has pointed out that the number of applications has been rising year after year since 2010, but no extra resources have been provided. In 2001, the Bacon Report recommended that 1,285 speech and language therapists

should be employed by 2002; eleven years later there were 838, although Ireland produces high quality speech and language therapists each year, who are effectively being trained for export.

or antisocial behaviour, but because they could no longer afford to pay the rent on their accommodation.

These children may have to spend an hour or more, needing two buses, to get to school; they have to get up early, and arrive late and tired, sometimes missing school altogether if their parents cannot afford the bus fares. The children are worried and angry and can’t concentrate in school. With no facilities for cooking, their nutrition suffers and they are more prone to illness. They have lost everything we consider to be normal childhood life: they have no place to play or store toys, their friends cannot visit, they may have to abandon their pets, they cannot celebrate birthdays.

Access to services depends on a “postcode lottery.” In Wicklow there are 100 children who require therapy for each therapist employed; in Wexford, there are more than 300 children per therapist. The inability to communicate properly affects a child’s behaviour, social interactions, education and has a major knockon effect throughout their lives. It presents an enduring crisis for the families of those affected, some of whom resort to borrowing or fundraising to pay for therapy.

In May 2013, 58 adults with children were in hotels, bed and breakfasts, or other emergency accommodation in Dublin.

Eighteen months later, in October 2014, it had risen to 421 adults and 680 children in Dublin, and a further 118 children outside Dublin. Most of them became homeless not through addiction

And it’s going to get worse; in December 2014, there were more than 1,000 families in “immediate danger” of losing their rented accommodation and being plunged into homelessness.

These children are victims of a society-wide housing crisis that most harshly affects the poorest households, says Roughan MacNamara, advocacy manager at Focus Ireland. That housing crisis began in 2008, when local authorities pulled out of building homes. Although 5,000 units of social housing were built in 2007, in 2013 a mere 293 units were built.

If resources allow, our Government has a choice in the next budget: will they reduce the top rate of tax or will they give it to our neglected children? The answer is obvious; an election is coming, the children may just have to continue waiting.

39

M OT HE R O F P E R PE TUAL H E L P

TAKE OFF YOUR SANDALS! A PROVOCATIVE SCRIPTURAL READING OF A FAMOUS ICON

BY BRIAN HOLMES CSsR

As

40

Redemptorists prepare to celebrate the 150 years that the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help has been entrusted to them, with the request “to make her known to the world,” we turn in prayers of thanks and praise to the Mother of God and her Son, Jesus Christ. We recall the traditional interpretation, how the child, asleep in his mother’s arms, had a frightening dream foreseeing the archangels Michael and Raphael with the instruments of his passion and death – the cross, lance and sponge. He wakes in fright, clings to his mother’s hands and the jerk of his leg makes him lose his little sandal. Mary looks towards us who contemplate the icon, communicating care, assurance, serenity. Right in the centre of the icon the hands of the Son of God meet the hands of the human Mary. God becomes human to redeem us.

However I have a little difficulty with this traditional interpretation. As I contemplate again the face of the child Jesus, I cannot see a frightened face. Here in Mozambique when I go into the remote villages where white people have never been and the little children see me, they scream out in fright, and I can see very clearly their fear of the strange white man in their facial expression. But in the icon, Jesus looks calmly, serenely, almost regally towards the angels and the instruments of his future passion and death. His facial expression does not seem to be one of fright, pain, or wanting to hide himself from these cruel, terrible scenes. Why not sit before your own copy of the icon and contemplate for a while, especially on the face of the child Redeemer?

REALITY MARCH 2015

OFFERING HIS SANDAL Then there is the sandal, which for me evokes a verse from the book of Ruth, one of the most readable and enchanting books in the entire Bible. In Ruth 4:7-8 we read: “Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a

transaction, one party took off a sandal and gave it to the other; this was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the next-of-kin said to Boaz, ‘Acquire it for yourself,’ he took off his sandal.” Here the words redeeming, exchanging, transaction, attesting are a clear reference to the Biblical tradition of the redeemer.

Fr Brian visiting a school in Mozambique

It is also this word which is one of the earliest used in the New Testament to explain the mission of Jesus in the Christian communities. In the Old Testament, if people, through poverty or indebtedness, lost their land or were sold into slavery, the nearest relation (the redeemer) should do everything possible to redeem them. So for the first Christians, Jesus was the nearest relation, the eldest brother who gave himself totally, emptying himself to redeem his sisters and brothers, victims of slavery to the law, to racism, injustice, to the Roman imperial ideology and to the oppressive interpretations of religion at that time.

Thus Saint Paul, writing less than 20 years after the death of Jesus, could say: “He gave himself for me” and “Although he was rich he became poor for your sake so that you might become rich through his poverty.”

The original Hebrew word (go’el), which we translate as “redeemer,” is so dense that many other different words are also are used to translate it in the New Testament: liberator, redeemer, saviour, comforter, advocate, defender, nearest relation, eldest brother and firstborn. All these words are used to describe Jesus’ redeeming mission.

So when I contemplate Jesus taking off his sandal, offering it to us, as he sees his coming passion, I remember the little book of Ruth and the explanation given for the gesture of the taking off of the sandal. We know that in other parts of the Bible “taking off the sandal” has diverse meanings and interpretations in different times and places. But here in the

book of Ruth, this interpretation is clearly explained. In the icon Jesus takes off his sandal. He is ratifying his commitment to free us from our poverty and slavery. He is confirming his promise to restore to us our lost inheritance. He offers his sandal as a sign of his redemptive mission. He is our redeemer, liberator, saviour, comforter, advocate, defender, nearest relation, eldest brother and firstborn. Mary, his mother, holds him firmly and lovingly. She does not try to recover the sandal that Jesus takes off as a mother normally would be expected to do. No, she supports him lovingly as he takes it off and faces the terrible suffering of his mission of emptying himself as our Redeemer, so that we might live in freedom, justice and love, as children of God and children of Mary.

PERPETUAL HELP Surely this biblical reference gives a deeper and more redemptive meaning to our icon, and hence to the spirituality and mission of Redemptorists, lay missionaries and consecrated alike. We are urged to continue this very same redemptive mission of Jesus to all who find themselves caught in slavery.

We often call them the most abandoned.

They are for us those whom the ordinary structures of the Church cannot or will not reach out to with the Good News of redemption today. We too must take off our sandal and renew our commitment to give our lives so that the redemptive Good News of Jesus touches all who, for one motive

or another, find themselves caught in any kind of slavery today. And as we struggle daily with our own fragility, we also cling to the hands of Mary, and put our trust in her maternal prayer and protection, every day and every night, perpetual help for us as we struggle to be generous and faithful to his call – inviting us too, each new day, to take off our sandal, ratifying anew our commitment to his plentiful redemption.

When I went to Brazil 45 years ago I got a precious present from a friend, a little cotton banner with a message. I have hung it on the wall of my room since then. Now, starting off in our new Redemptorist Mission here in Mozambique on the borders of Malawi and Zambia, among the Chewa people, I still have it, and more and more I am convinced of its wisdom. It too invites us to take off our sandals!

Take off your sandals!

Our first task When we come to a different people A different culture Another religion Is to take off our sandals Because The place we come to Is sacred And we can too easily Crush the others’ Dreams Worse still We can forget That God is there Ever before we arrived.

Fr Brian Holmes CSsR is a Redemptorist from Cork. He has spent most of his life working among the poor of Brazil. Recently Brian, along with other Irish and Brazilian Redemptorists, began a mission in Africa on the border of Mozambique and Malawi.

He lives in Furancungo in the Diocese of Tete (Mozambique).

41

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE TESTAMENT OF YOUTH REVIEWED BY BRENDAN McCONVERY CSsR

42

Testament of Youth was originally published in 1933 as a memoir

by Vera Brittain. It tells the story of her growing into womanhood during the years 1900 to 1925.

It is a tribute to the story it tells that the book has never been out of print in over 80 years. It was serialised as a television drama

by BBC in 1979 and has now been released as a film.

As a film, it is a remarkable chronicle of an age of transition as one age gives way to another that threatens to destroy old certainties. Vera Brittain (Alicia Vikander) is enjoying the last days of the summer holidays in the company of her brother Edward (Taron Egerton) and some friends he has brought home. Vera is already attracted by one of them, the handsome Roland Leighton (Kit Harington). The Brittains are a well-to-do family. Edward and his companions will probably go to Oxford, then to the army.

Vera passionately wants to go to university. Her father (played by Dominic West), a typical Victorian pater familias, considers this a childish fantasy that will probably

Vera Brittain

REALITY MARCH 2015

Alicia Vikander

destroy her prospects of marrying well, but one from which she can be weaned by the gift of a piano to indulge her other passion, music.

The shadow of the coming world war passes across the screen as the family attend the parade of the

Baroness Shirley Williams

boys’ officer corps at their school.

With the help of Edward, Vera persuades her father to allow her to take the entrance examination for Sommerville College, the only women’s college in Oxford.

While women could take the

full university course of studies, they were still barred from taking degrees, a situation that would only change in 1920.

Soon these boys of 18 or 19 are commanding men of their own age and older, but from a different social class, in the trenches of France and Belgium.

The camaraderie young men experience in time of common danger seems to blot out the horror of the trenches. For Vera, the cloistered life of Oxford, for which she has longed, has no attraction, as news arrives of the death of the boys one by one in the trenches. Within a year, she had volunteered for service as an army nurse. These are some of the most harrowing and moving scenes in the film. The patients she cared for were British and German and were treated with equal respect and tenderness.

The script-writers have been forced to condense much of the original narrative and to take some short cuts with dates and facts, but Vera’s daughter, Shirley Williams, was consulted and offered advice on the script. Now 85 years of

SPRING

age, Baroness Williams remains committed to the memory of her mother.

The final scenes of the film point to the direction Vera Brittain’s later life would take. With so many of the young men she had known dead as a result of war and with her own experience of the carnage

still fresh in her mind, she attends a pacifist meeting where she meets George Catlin, a political philosopher and pacifist, who will become her husband in 1925.

Testament of Youth tells a riveting story and tells it well. In the best tradition of British cinema, it recreates an era with its sense of

place, dress and manners. Vera is only allowed contact with her young male friends if she is accompanied by Aunt Belle, but even she realises that when young men go off to war, the chaperone needs to be discreet. Some of the war scenes have the starkness of the images of the trenches and ‘no man’s land.’ The narrative blends the colours of Edwardian society, and the early struggle of women for educational and social equality, with the emerging sense of the horror of war. The religious dimension of the film is discreet but it should not eclipse the importance of faith in Vera’s own story. The opening flash forward to Armistice Day 1918 includes a scene in which Vera joins a group

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of women gathered for prayer in a church. This scene is repeated towards the end. Vera’s own faith was sorely tested by the war. She was later able to rediscover it in the Anglican peace movement.

George Catlin, who had also enlisted at the age of 18, converted to Roman Catholicism as a result of his wartime experience. Both of his and Vera’s children were reared as Catholics, including Shirley Williams.

MOVIE INFO Starring: Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Taron Egerton, Dominic West, Colin Morgan Director: James Kent Rated 12A. Some scenes of wartime violence

GOD’S WORD THIS MONTH MARCH

METAMORPHOSIS One of the most sombre parts of Mark’s stark Gospel is the section dealing with SECOND SUNDAY Jesus’ journey from Galilee to OF LENT Jerusalem (Mk 8:31–10:52). It is not an easy journey for Jesus or his disciples. But one of the moments of relief on the journey is the transfiguration of Jesus, which is told in today’s reading. Mark doesn’t identify where it happens, other than to say it was “a high mountain apart.” Traditionally the mountain is identified with Mount Tabor, which is 18 kilometres west of the Sea of Galilee and is the only high mountain standing alone in Lower Galilee.

In the presence of the three disciples Jesus is changed in some way. The Greek text says that he underwent a “metamorphosis” or transformation. This change involves a particularly brilliant whiteness of his clothes, 44 beyond any human capacity to produce. In the Bible brilliant whiteness is associated with heaven, while metamorphosis was a process whereby a person’s inner self was displayed outwardly. Putting these two ideas together,

the text is saying that Jesus was changed in a way by which his divinity was revealed to the three disciples for the first time.

There are many theories about the appearance of Moses and Elijah. The Jewish Bible of that time consisted of two parts (the Law and the Prophets), symbolised here by Moses and Elijah. Accordingly, Jesus, God’s Beloved Son, is the fulfilment of the hopes and prophecies of the Jewish scriptures.

Another theory is based on what Elijah, Moses and Jesus have in common. They spoke with God atop high mountains. As they now stand on either side of the transfigured Jesus, their presence affirms God’s power working through him.

Yet Peter fails to recognise Jesus’ identity. His use of the title “rabbi” suggests he sees Jesus merely as another Jewish teacher. His declaration (“it is good for us to be here”) is inappropriately low-key and his desire to pitch three tents underscores his ignorance of what is being offered to him and his companions. He still sees Jesus simply as another good and holy figure and not as Messiah and Son of God. His desire to freeze the moment and not continue the journey to Jerusalem illustrates that he has not understand all that Jesus has been saying up to this point.

A RIGHTEOUS ANGER Today we read John’s MARCH account of the cleansing of the Temple. His description of Jesus is dramatic. Armed with a whip Jesus drives THIRD SUNDAY animals and people out of OF LENT the Temple court, scattering money and overturning tables as he goes. If you are going to understand fully what Jesus’ action is about, you will need to put the scene into its proper context. Animals were required for sacrifice by law. The city was full of Passover pilgrims. These would need to buy animals for the Temple sacrifice and to pay the Temple tax. Roman and Greek coins used the image of the emperor and declared him a god. Pious Jews simply could not use such currency for religious purposes. So Roman and Greek money needed to be changed into a special Temple currency. The animals and the

moneychangers were essential for the Temple liturgy. For Jesus, this system of sacrifice had reduced God’s Temple to a marketplace. In condemning it, Jesus is challenging the power of the Temple authorities.

The Jews are shocked by Jesus’ actions and challenge him to justify them. He responds with his own challenge: “Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up.” This claim bemuses the Jews; it had taken 46 years to build the Temple and here is this man saying he will raise it up again in three days.

But Jesus is not talking about rebuilding the Temple stone by stone. He is talking about the resurrection of the “temple of his body.” For the Jews the Temple was the place of God’s presence on earth. For Jesus’ followers the place of God’s presence on earth will be Jesus’ risen body. Only after the resurrection will his actions and words be remembered through the power of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus will send.

01

08

REALITY MARCH 2015

Now God speaks and corrects Peter’s inadequate understanding. Jesus is not just another rabbi or even another biblical figure. He is God’s Son. The three disciples are not to set up tents. They are to “listen” to Jesus, even if they do not fully understand him. Above all, they are to listen to what he is saying about suffering and dying. The transfiguration story is not simply about revealing Jesus’ identity as Beloved Son. It is also about God’s revelation of the cost of saving the world through the suffering and death of the Beloved Son. Once God has spoken, the vision ends and the heavenly figures disappear. “Only Jesus” remains and he is as he was before. Yet everything is different.

We know that God’s Beloved Son will continue his journey to Jerusalem where he will suffer and die to save the world. Jesus warns his disciples to remain quiet about their experience until after the resurrection. Jesus’ power and glory are not to be separated from what awaits him in Jerusalem and can only be understood in that context. There will be no Easter glory without Golgotha’s cross.

Today’s Readings GEN 22:1–2, 9–13, 15–18; PS 115; RM 8:31–34; Mark 9:2–10

Today’s Readings EX 20:1–17; PS 18; 1 COR 1:22–25; John 2:13–25

MARCH

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE Today’s Gospel doesn’t make for light reading. It consists of part of a speech Jesus gives FOURTH SUNDAY following a conversation with OF LENT a man called Nicodemus.

Nicodemus is a Jewish leader and a Pharisee who seeks out Jesus. But he does it in secret, at night, under the cover of darkness.

Night is often used in John’s Gospel to symbolise separation from the presence of God. Nicodemus is a would-be disciple but still has some way to go before he reaches full discipleship.

Nicodemus asks questions and Jesus gives answers that develop into a full-blown theological speech. Today’s reading is taken from that lengthy speech, and has to do with the way in which the “Son of Man” will be “lifted up.” Jesus refers back to an episode from the Old Testament when Moses saved the people of Israel from serpents by “lifting

up” a bronze serpent on a pole. All who were bitten and looked at the bronze serpent were saved.

“Lifting up” has two meanings in the Fourth Gospel. It can refer to Jesus being lifted up on the cross on Calvary. Or it can mean the glorification or exaltation of Jesus. John’s theology of the cross is quite different from that of the other Gospel writers.

Central to John’s theology is that Jesus is exalted by means of the crucifixion. As John sees it, Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection and ascension are all a single event. Just as the bronze serpent on the pole gave life to the people of Israel in the wilderness, Jesus on the cross will give eternal life to those who believe.

Eternal life is not just something in the future after death. Eternal life begins here and now and is life lived in the unending presence of the eternal God. John’s community in the first century AD had a very strong sense of those who belonged to it and those who were opposed to it. This is reflected in the theology of the Fourth Gospel. For John, Jesus

is God’s gift to the world, given in love for all the people of the world without distinction. Yet people are going to have to make a choice in relation to this wonderful gift. If people choose to believe in Jesus, then they become children of God and receive the gift of eternal life, beginning here and now. On the other hand, if people choose not to believe in Jesus, then the gift of eternal life will not be available to them. Those who choose Jesus are saved. Those who do not are condemned.

The final part of Jesus’ speech uses images of light and darkness. Nicodemus has not yet come to belief. He remains in the darkness of night until he can come to faith in Jesus.

THE GIFT MARCH Today’s Gospel is one of the most important in the Fourth Gospel for understanding the significance of Jesus’ death, but FIFTH SUNDAY it doesn’t make for light reading.

OF LENT Traditionally, the church has used three different models to understand the meaning of Jesus’ death. The first sees his death as an act of ransom, or payment, to God by which Jesus bought the world freedom from evil and death. The second views Jesus’ death as a sacrifice offered to God in atonement for human sin. The third understands his death as a morally good deed which reveals the depth of God’s love for us. Today’s Gospel offers a different model for understanding his death.

The story opens with the arrival of some “Greeks.” They are Greek-speaking Gentiles who are interested in Judaism and are on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. They want to “see” Jesus. The Greek text implies that they want to become his disciples. Their request marks a new development in Jesus’ ministry as his group of followers extends beyond Jewish people to include Gentiles. This will be the church’s future. It will move beyond Judaism to embrace the whole world. But

this can only happen when Jesus, the “Son of Man,” is “glorified” through his death, resurrection and return to the Father. In short, the arrival of the Greeks anticipates a future Church of Jews and Gentiles but also points the way to Jesus’ death.

The rest of today’s text is taken up with Jesus’ own interpretation of his death.

The first image he uses is of a seed. The key to understanding his teaching is to be found in the difference between the seed which “remains just a single grain” and the seed which, in dying, “bears much fruit.” Jesus says that his death will be fruitful because it will give life to a whole community of believers that will be gathered in his name. Later in today’s text Jesus restates the meaning of his parable in explicit language – “and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

He then talks about those who “love” and “hate” their life. Those who love their life are unable to give that life in service for others and so put themselves outside the Christian community. Those who “hate their life in this world” are those who follow Jesus’ example and so are able to receive the gift of eternal life. They will be honoured by the Father for their love and service.

The second image Jesus uses is that of his “hour.”

This is the Fourth Gospel’s preferred word to

describe his agony and death. Jesus will not avoid what awaits him but will embrace it in his love for the Father, who now speaks. This is always a rare but hugely significant moment in biblical literature.

The Father says that he has glorified his own name in everything Jesus has said and done up to now and that he will glorify it again in all that will befall Jesus in the “hour.”

Those present aren’t sure what they hear. Some say it is thunder while others maintain it’s an angel’s voice. In the Old Testament, thunder and angelic voices were always understood as signs of God’s presence. So while the crowd knows that God has revealed something, they fail to recognise God’s very presence in Jesus.

Finally, Jesus returns to the theme of judgement.

How the world responds to him in his “hour” when he is “lifted up” (crucified and glorified) will constitute judgement. God offers salvation without limit to all people through Jesus. How people respond to that offer is up to them.

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Today’s Readings 2 CH 36:14–16, 19–23; PS 136; EPH 2:4–10; John 3:14–21

Today’s Readings JR 31:31–34; PS 50; HEB 5:7–9; John 12:20–30

God’s Word continues on page 46

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THE REALITY CROSSWORD NUMBER 2, MARCH 2015

SOLUTIONS CROSSWORD No. 10 ACROSS: Across: 1. Israel, 5. Hermit, 10. Raccoon, 11. Bemused, 12. Glum, 13. Venus, 15. Halo, 17.

Nub, 19. Cobras, 21. Flutes, 22. Banshee, 23. Nutmeg, 25. Eagles, 28. GNP, 30. Cure, 31. Degas, 32.

Yale, 35. Trinket, 36. Survive, 37. Birdie, 38. Deluge.

DOWN: 2. Succumb, 3. Agog, 4. Linden, 5. Hubbub, 6. Rome, 7. Instant, 8. Tragic, 9. Odious, 14.

Nursing, 16. Babel, 18. Bleak, 20. Sag, 21. Fee, 23. Nicety, 24. Termini, 26. Loafing, 27. Swedes, 28.

Gentle, 29. Paused, 33. Skid, 34. Oral.

Winner of Crossword No. 10 Mary Condon, Cork

ACROSS 1. Brooded sullenly. (6) 5. The only South American nation with English as the official language. (6) 10. Knotty problem solved by Alexander the Great. (7) 11. Birds of prey. (7) 12. An accompanied elaborate song for a solo voice in an opera. (4) 13. A course of treatment for drug dependence or disability. (5) 15. Napoleon's 300 day island home. (4) 17. A line of seats in a theatre. (3) 19. A business providing services for another business. (6) 21. Container and large boat. (6) 22. A vehicle equipped for living in. (7) 23. Marker for a comment. (6) 25. Berber person with a nomadic lifestyle. (6) 28. An offence against God. (3) 30. A grape plant. (4) 31. Dwell on with malevolent smugness. (5) 32. So be it at the end of a prayer. (4) 35. A vain act in Rome. (7) 36. The day of worship and rest. (7) 37. Wading birds and lifting devices. (6) 38. Countries bound together by treaties.

(6)

DOWN 2. Divided country on the Black Sea. (7) 3. Make a garment with wool and long needles.

(4) 4. Potential harm in the garden. (6) 5. A crude and boisterous laugh. (6) 6. A sharp of high-pitched bark. (4) 7. Ribbon-like strips of pasta. (7) 8. American arboreal lizard. (6) 9. Country where the official languages are Arabic and Hebrew. (6) 14. Hamlet's most trusted friend. (7) 16. The capital of Ghana. (5) 18. The second planet from the Sun. (5) 20. Himalayan beat of burden. (3) 21. A barrel and a tax. (3) 23. Restore to life. (6) 24. A province in sternum. (7) 26. A period of violent behaviour by a group of people. (7) 27. The leader of India's drive for independence.

(6) 28. Ancient weapons for throwing stones. (6) 29. A feeling of sickness or of disgust. (6) 33. Look at all parts carefully to detect some feature. (4) 34. The second son and the first to die. (4)

GOD’S WORD THIS MONTH continued from page 45

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST Today we read Mark’s account of the passion of Jesus. Listen to it or read it slowly and follow the dialogues and the drama for yourself. Note in particular two main characteristics of Mark’s ) account that make it different from the other N IO SS A (P PALM SUNDAY passion narratives.

The first is the issue of Jesus’ identity, which dominates Mark’s passion narrative. For Mark, Jesus is the “Son of God” and Israel’s Suffering “Messiah” or “Christ.” On the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem Jesus attempts three times to explain the concept of a suffering Messiah to his disciples but they completely misunderstand him. Mark also tells us that Jesus used the title “Son of Man” to describe himself. With all this in mind, pay particular attention to Jesus’ trial before the Jewish authorities. It is here that the titles “Christ” (“Messiah”), “Son of God” and “Son of Man” are brought together with clarity. Jesus, who called himself “Son of Man,” is finally revealed as both the Son of God and Israel’s Messiah.

Watch out also for the issue of Jesus’ identity in his trial before Pontius Pilate. Pilate asks if Jesus is the “King of the Jews.” The title is ambiguous.

In political terms it means a Jewish ruler who would challenge the authority of the Roman emperor in Judea. In Jewish religious terms it means Israel’s Messiah. Jesus’ silence can be interpreted to suggest that he accepts the title in religious terms but rejects it in political terms.

There is another Roman soldier in Mark’s passion story who is the hero of the Gospel. He is the centurion who stands on Golgotha and sees the way Jesus dies and then confesses Jesus’ identity as God’s Son. The revelation of Jesus’ identity in the passion narrative takes place only in the context of his suffering and death. Only when his disciples recognise Jesus as the one who suffered, died and was raised again can they profess their belief in him as Son of God and Messiah. After his death and resurrection, there is no longer any doubt about his identity.

A second characteristic of Mark’s passion narrative is the disciples’ lack of understanding. They have failed to appreciate both his identity and destiny throughout his mission in Galilee. On the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem they have failed to understand his predictions about his death. Now in the passion narrative their failure is obvious. Watch out for the way Mark portrays them. In the garden of Gethsemane they all abandon him and flee. The last of them flees most shamefully, discarding his cloak as he races naked into the darkness and away from Jesus. Peter denies him. They are not present at Golgotha when Jesus dies. In fact, they are such a cowardly bunch that after Gethsemane, Mark cannot bring himself to use the term “disciple” of them again.

MARCH

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Entry Form for Crossword No.2, March 2015 Name: Address:

Today’s Readings

Telephone:

IS 50:4–7; PS 21; PH 2:6–11; Mark 14:1–15:47 All entries must reach us by March 31, 2015 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. 2, Redemptorist Communications, 75 Orwell Rd., Rathgar, Dublin 6

DEVELOPMENT IN ACTION LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS OF EBOLA

Abibatu

sits quietly outside her house in a village in northern Sierra Leone, staring into the distance. Her husband and son are among the 8,000 people in West Africa who have succumbed to Ebola.

The disease has spread rapidly throughout Sierra Leone, bringing heartache and darkness to every corner of this country.

Yet Abibatu’s loss is all the more poignant due to the circumstances surrounding her family’s infection.

Her husband was a health worker who, like thousands of others, was tirelessly working to halt the spread of the disease. It was through treating patients at the local health clinic that he contracted the virus. His son then contracted it from him. Ultimately, they both passed away.

Visiting Sierra Leone, you see signs of Ebola everywhere – in the temporary health clinics, in the road blocks and in the quarantined houses that are taped off to signify that nobody can enter or leave.

Amid the suffering and pain, you also see tremendous acts of courage and bravery – people putting themselves at huge personal risk to try to halt the spread of this devastating virus.

The majority of these brave health workers are local people. They have been aided by support from overseas.

BRAVE WORKERS I was fortunate enough to meet with Sr Mary Sweeney, an Irish missionary nun living and working in Sierra Leone. The work carried out by Sr Sweeney and her team of dedicated workers is truly inspirational.

Working in the areas most affected by the Ebola outbreak, they are bringing comfort and much-needed support to those affected.

One of the team described their work to me as bringing light in the hours of darkness when families are overwhelmed and without hope. The courage of people like this was

BY EAMONN MEEHAN

recognised when TIME magazine declared the health workers of Sierra Leone to be the ‘People of the Year.’

Tragically, many of these brave workers have paid the ultimate price for putting themselves at risk for the greater good.

The health service in Sierra Leone has been decimated by the deaths of many doctors and nurses.

Thankfully, their efforts have not been in vain. The rates of Ebola are reducing and, finally, the war is being won against this dreadful virus.

Many challenges remain, however.

Restrictions on movement have meant that people have been unable to plant crops.

Without a planting season, there can be no harvest. Without a harvest, people will go hungry. The people of Sierra Leone and the wider West African region will need outside support for many years as they rebuild their communities and their lives after the devastation of the last year.

Much still needs to be done before the darkness can be replaced by light.

HOPE FOR THE MIDDLE EAST The story of Easter is one of rebirth and resurrection, and that theme is all around us to see as we enter the Lenten period. The long winter days are replaced by the welcome light of spring. Nature is reborn all around us.

This is a time of year when our minds are drawn to think of the possibilities of rebirth; of bringing light and life back to what was dark and still.

This theme is particularly relevant to the land where the Easter story was born. From the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, conflict and suffering scars this ancient and holy land. Today in the Middle East, we hear the cries of a people calling for a rebirth to breathe new life, new hope and a new beginning into this troubled area.

Recently I had the pleasure of hosting Bishop Antoine Audo, Bishop of Aleppo,

during his short stay in Ireland. There was an audible pain in his voice as he spoke about how his country, Syria, has been destroyed by war.

As we walked through the streets of Dublin, he told me of his daily life in Aleppo – a life of bullets, bombs and hunger. It was difficult to reconcile these two realities: the peaceful streets of the Irish capital and the war-torn and destroyed streets of a city just off the Eastern borders of Europe.

Last June I had a similar experience while hosting the visit of three former Israeli soldiers who were in Dublin to highlight the impact of military occupation on the lives of Palestinians.

They spoke passionately about how the occupation of Palestinian land was driving the cycle of violence. They warned that without a political agreement to restore dignity to all the peoples of the region, future conflicts would be inevitable.

Tragically, within days of this warning, Gaza was once again in flames. The cycle of violence claimed another 1,500 innocent lives and left over 100,000 homeless.

The suffering in Syria, Gaza, the West Bank and Israel is also felt in Iraq, where over two million people have been displaced by violence fuelled by religious hatred.

Much of what we in Europe celebrate and commemorate during Lent and Easter comes from the Middle East.

This year let us pray that the Easter messages of rebirth, renewal and revival can be felt throughout the Middle East and in Sierre Leone, easing the suffering of the people who live there and making hope reborn.

Trócaire’s Lenten campaign runs from Ash Wednesday, to Easter Sunday, 5 April 2015. To find out more visit trocaire.org/ lent or call 1850 408 408 Eamonn Meehan is executive director of Trócaire.

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