PERSPECTIVES
Put the final nail in death’s coffin Nthabiseng T Maphisa HE opening words of the sonnet “Death Be Not Proud” by the 17thcentury British poet and cleric John Donne have resonated with me over the past couple of weeks. Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful for thou art not so; For those whom thou thinkst dost overthrow Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
Donne has a dismissive and even mocking attitude towards death. Death in his mind becomes personified and he engages in a damning conversation with it. He does this by pointing out its flaws and laughing at its inability to have a lasting impact. All of this got me thinking. How has the world changed its attitude towards death since the life of this great poet? The overflow of movies and television series that have, at their core, the telling of haunted houses and vengeance-seeking ghosts says much about humanity’s “laughter” at death. This is made evident by the popularity of TV series such as The Walking Dead and American Horror Story. The pre-Christmas cash cow milked by retailers that is Hallowe’en provides an illuminating observation of this. This year as in many years before, the shops were littered with plastic pumpkins, fake cobwebs and bats, and the evereerie abundance of devils’ masks and pitchforks. Children paraded through the streets dressed as dead nurses, dead pilots and dead police officers. Spooky, isn’t it? There will, of course, be the occasional angel wrapped in a toga-style white sheet with a tinsel-made halo. So that’s it, then? Human beings are not afraid to die? If that is the case, however, why do graveyards still evoke a dark and chilling presence? What are we to make of elaborate tombstones and longwinded epitaphs? I have long wondered what happens when a heart stops beating. Are we sucked into a black pit teeming with penitent souls awaiting their eternal reward? Or do we, as they suggest in the movies,
walk into a bright light that consumes us?
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he great saints of our time shed much light on this. St Faustina of the Divine Mercy begged the Lord to reveal to her the day that she would be with him in heaven. When the day finally arrived, she was surrounded by her fellow religious sisters and her soul departed peacefully to Christ. The final moments of the lives of the saints seem to echo the closing couplet of Donne’s sonnet: “One short sleep past, we wake eternally, and death shall be no more; Death thou shalt die.” Indeed the saints show us that death, frightening in its inevitability, is a final opportunity to submit to God. This terrifies me as I’m inclined to cling to many things: to good memories, to pride, to shame and to sparkly shoes. My fear has a voice and it seems to say: I’m afraid that when I die, the gates of Heaven will be closed shut And I’ll be sitting down in purgatory wondering how I didn’t make the cut I’m afraid that when I die, I’ll be left to
Together with the saints we shall, one day, proclaim aloud: “Death, be not proud”.
see the dark Even though Christ has left on me His most indelible mark I’m afraid that when I die, God will only see my sins And that He’ll look back on my life wondering why I didn’t let Him in. I’m afraid that when I die, the saints will look and wonder why? Why didn’t speak I about God, was I embarrassed or too shy? I’m afraid that when I die, my guardian angel won’t have good things to say God would have heard it all and He’ll send me on my way. I’ll be way back down in Purgatory thinking of how I got it all wrong And waiting for someone to pray for me so that I won’t be in there too long What do I say to God when all of life has been spent? His angels count up every penny and add up every cent That’s how it was with the dishonest steward in Luke’s gospel who, after having his own debt written off, refused to forgive the debt of others and was later captured and made to pay everything he owed (16:1-8). Despite the plastic skulls and experimentation with the occult at Hallowe’en, the Church remembers the souls of the faithful deceased throughout the month of November. It is a stark reminder of our own mortality. But it is in this time that we are to put the final nail in death’s coffin. We can bury it six feet under and engrave on its tombstone: “To the one who lost the war on life.” Together with the saints we shall, one day, proclaim aloud: “Death, be not proud.” n For past columns by Nthabiseng Maphisa go to www.scross.co.za/category/perspectives/ nthabiseng-maphisa/
The Public Square
Pope Francis and a blind girl meet at a centre for the blind in Rome. Mercy is at the centre of this papacy. (Photo: l’Osservatore Romano via CNS) That he acknowledges the teachings of the Gospel, while in the attempt to have the primacy of love, allows certain latitude in the pastoral interpretation of the Gospel. That he preaches mercy, tolerant guidance for the faithful deviant. Because he knows that the duty of orthodoxy is to inform, teach, entice and persuade our reality towards the ideal values—not to discourage and condemn.
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e can see that the pope knows that when Yeshua, the Christ, was confronted by the teachers of law and the Pharisees, seeking to stone an adulterous woman in accordance with the Law of
Moses, he invoked the primacy of love through mercy. He pointed out to their reality that not a single one of them, and of us, was without sin. This is what is at the centre of the incarnation. When God saw we had all sinned, he did not insist on our death but, moved by indefatigable mercy, came down to redeem our frail and fallen nature. God meets us in our reality and walks us step by step to the ideals of the Gospel. This, to me, is what grace is all about. Pope Francis does not justify the bending of the Gospel ideals, as some seem to accuse him of doing. The pope is following Christ’s parable in allowing for the wheat and the weeds to grow cheek by jowl until harvest time. And in doing so, he gives opportunity to the weak—which is all of us—to be irreversibly hooked on the Gospel values, which is just another way of saying: “Be ready for heaven.” What Christ despised and preached against are the Pharisees and the lawyers who burden people with rules they themselves were not keeping; those who crush the bruised reed and snuff out the smouldering wick. Pope Francis is of similar mind, and this is probably why he has become so unpopular with false righteous (the modern Pharisees) within and outside the Church. I do not care to participate in the futile nomenclature of conservative or progressive—Jesus was both and neither. The only progress I am interested in is to go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” n For past columns by Mphutumi Ntabeni go to www.scross.co.za/category/perspectives/ ntabeni
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Julia Beacroft
Point of Reflection
Pop Culture Catholic
We can see Christ in Pope Francis Mphuthumi I Ntabeni T baffles me how many Christians don’t take Mathew 25 seriously as one of the crucial conditions for their salvation, even though Yeshua, the Christ, was at pains to make this clear. “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” It is clear that the option for the poor and vulnerable is regarded, by Christ in particular, as the means to win God’s favour, thus of entering heaven. He even goes as far as to teach us: “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” And by this he means all of us. There is a demonstrable preference given to powerless individuals who live on the margins of society in the both the Bible and in our Church’s canon law: “The Christian faithful are also obliged to promote social justice and, mindful of the precept of the Lord, to assist the poor.” As far as I can tell the phrase “preferential option for the poor” was first used in 1968 by the superior general of the Jesuits, Fr Pedro Arrupe, in a letter to his order. It has now permeated almost all the Church’s teachings, especially social teachings. Its prevalence, perhaps, is also its downfall, for most people take it for granted, assuming that it is already being implemented. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” Jesus taught. It is worrying that when the Holy Spirit, as a way of reminding us and our era about this, gives us a pope who takes this teaching very seriously and is then attacked, in veiled attempts to discredit his message, by questioning the orthodoxy of his stand. Worse still is when the attack is led by Princes of the Church. Many of us, lay Catholics in particular, are revived by Pope Francis’ papacy. We believe he proclaims an orthodox teaching of the Catholic Church.
The Southern Cross, November 8 to November 14, 2017
Do you connect to evangelise?
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HEN my son was at primary school he won a prize. No big deal, you may say; children win prizes at school all the time. And you would, of course, be quite correct. However, this prize was notable—not only because it was a poetry prize and my son hated poetry and English in general, but also because of the content of the poem. For reasons best known only to himself, he had decided to write his masterpiece about—of all things—bacon! In fact the title of his poem (and I use the term loosely) was “The Bacon Rap”. Incredibly, the triumphant ending to his epic verse was: “Bacon, bacon, comes from a cow!” Naturally, despite having received the prize from his school, my son has never been able to live down the joke, to this day! However, although hilariously funny, this event served as an excellent means of communication to us and to the school. It announced, loudly and clearly, that he certainly loved bacon! Today, communication has become increasingly important and is readily available in a veritable plethora of means and methods. Social media, in particular, has taken off in a way that no-one could have anticipated. It has actually become an integral part of our lives, with Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram and so on being universally used as an excellent way of keeping in touch with others and sharing ideas and opinions. In fact, the pope himself tweets on a daily basis. Facebook and Twitter are particularly good at suggesting “friends” and “followers” as a way of putting people in touch with each other and connecting them.
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n the same way, as we attempt to spread the Gospel message, we ourselves are connectors—we connect others to the providential love and grace of God. In so doing our methods of communication are all important, whether this involves talking about our faith, listening to others or helping our neighbour. Even such a basic action as a smile, greeting or kind word to another person is hugely important. It is surprising the way that such small moments of kindness and friendliness can make an enormous difference to the lives of others, and in so doing possibly plant a seed of faith which could germinate and grow. When we behave in this way, we are living the Gospel in action. And although there can be and have been problems with social media, and sometimes trivia or even nonsense have been posted on it, let’s not forget that it is also an excellent medium or connector for evangelisation, as it reaches out to the whole world with ease. Pope Francis tweeted recently: “A Christian’s mission in the world is splendid, it is a mission intended for everyone, it is a mission of service, excluding no one!” In today’s technological world our communication systems are more advanced than ever as we routinely use social media or facilities such as e-mail, Skype or Snapchat. Letters and former written methods of communication are rapidly becoming an anachronism. Yet our role of connecting others to our Christian faith remains essentially unchanged. May we always embrace any method of communication to bring others to the Lord, so he may take his place in their lives and “save their bacon”. n Julia Beacroft’s book Sanctifying The Spirit is published by Sancio Books. It is available on Amazon.