Month: March 2016

‘From now on do not sin again.’ Sunday Reflections, 5th Sunday of Lent, Year C

From The Gospel of John (2003) directed by Philip Saville

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel John 8:1-11 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada) 

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.  Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery, Rembrandt, c.1644

National Gallery, London [Web Gallery of Art]

More than 33 years ago I did a number of brief supplies in parishes in one of the western states in the USA. In one parish, where I stayed only from Saturday till Monday morning, the Sunday gospel was one showing the mercy of Jesus. I forget which one, but know it wasn’t today’s. In my homily I emphasised God’s love for us as sinners and how he wants to welcome us back when we turn away from him, partly or fully, by sinning.

The following morning I found an anonymous note that had been shoved under the front door of the priest’s house. The style was that of a teenage girl. But the message was one for which I thanked God.

The writer said that for years she had hated God, thinking that God hated her. But whatever was in the gospel that Sunday and whatever I said in my homily had touched her deeply, making her aware of God’s unconditional love for her precisely as a sinner, a love that led her to let go of the hatred she had been carrying.

Today’s gospel shows so clearly the profound, merciful love that Jesus has for the sinner. We tend to focus on his mercy for the woman taken in adultery. She is indeed the main focal point. But we also see the merciful love of Jesus for those who had accused her. Jesus often spoke harshly to and about hypocrites. But on this occasion he brings the men who had wanted to execute the woman to reflect on their own sinfulness. Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. 

And the men did respond. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders.

Today’s gospel reflects that of last Sunday, the parable of the Prodigal Son. The older son couldn’t see beyond the great sins of his younger brother and failed even to see his father’s love shown each day. But the father gently points out, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

The men in the gospel could see only the sin of the woman. And she had committed a grave sin. Adultery is never a ‘peccadillo’, a ‘little sin’. It is among other things a sin of injustice and causes grief to the other spouse and to their children, as I know only too well from listening to young people on retreats over the years.

We live in a time when it is considered a ‘grave sin’ to be ‘judgmental’. The ‘grave sin’ is not against God but against current ‘thinking’ and ‘feeling’. Yet certain persons are called by their very professions to be ‘judgmental’: judges, referees and umpires, for example.

And Jesus in this instance is judgmental in that sense. He first asks the woman, Has no one condemned you? He then goes on to say, Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again. 

Jesus judges the woman – but doesn’t condemn her. He acknowledges her sin – but sends her away forgiven.

Jesus has given us through the Church a powerful way of experiencing what the woman in today’s gospel did. It is the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Confession/Penance. We’re not usually dragged to the confessional by people condemning us. But we acknowledge our sins while acknowledging God’s mercy. 

Among other things, ‘The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship.’ Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation ‘is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation.’ Indeed the sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true ‘spiritual resurrection,’ restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most precious is friendship with God. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No 1468).  

Let us restore to the center – and not only in this Jubilee Year – the Sacrament of Reconciliation, a true space of the Spirit in which all, confessors and penitents, are able to experience the only definitive and faithful love, that of God for each one of His children, a love that never disappoints. St Leopold Mandic reiterated that God’s mercy outstrips all our expectations. He used to say to those who suffered, ‘We have in Heaven the heart of a mother. The Virgin, our Mother, who at the foot of the Cross experienced all the suffering possible for a human creature, understands our hardships and consoles us’. May Mary, refuge of sinners and Mother of Mercy, always guide and sustain the fundamental ministry of Reconciliation. Pope Francis, 4 March 2016.

‘The Virgin, our Mother, who at the foot of the Cross experienced all the suffering possible for a human creature, understands our hardships and consoles us’.

Pietà – Malate – 1945

Our Lady of Remedies Church, Malate, Manila

In memory of the people of Malate who were killed during the Second World War and the five Columban priests who stayed with them and died with them.

The compassionate figure of Our Lady of Healing calls the Church to heal our crucified world, to walk with the poor and the oppressed, and to be the voice of those who cry for justice.

Mary, who inspired the women of Malate, represents the women of all times; women bring life into the world and most understand the sacredness of life and the insanity of war. With them, we pledge to work for a world without war where all people will live in that peace which Christ promised.

Kyrie from Missa Criolla (1964) by Ariel Ramírez

Help for trafficked and abused children. Fr Shay Cullen’s Reflections, 4 March 2016

Help for trafficked and abused children

by Fr Shay Cullen

Children at Preda

There are millions of Filipino families that are secure and whole and live out family values by giving love, care and protection and a life of dignity and education to their children. They are the vast majority and are blessed and to be admired and imitated.

There are however thousands of vulnerable and neglected children in the Filipino population of 100 million and they are at grave risk and need special protection, help,emotional recovery from abuse and the rule of law to bring their abusers to justice and have them convicted of horrid and heinous crimes.

Trained dedicated : Investigators prosecutors and judges of integrity with unshakable moral values are urgently needed. Government ,Church leaders and the public must act to save these children and not be part of the problem. International women’s day is celebrated this month and we have to stand with these young women who are so cruelly exploited abused and sold into sexual slavery.

They say it takes a village to bring up a child but it also takes a village to bring them down. The apathy and turning away of the authorities, and duty bearers and many in the church and the communality are failing these abused children and they are brought down to the pit of despair and suicide.

According to the International Labor Organization there are 5.2 million children in some kind of slavery in the world. Hundreds of thousands are sold into sex slavery.

Continue here.

The Success and Failure of the EDSA Revolution. Fr Shay Cullens’ Reflections, 26 February 2016

The Success and Failure of the EDSA Revolution

 by Fr Shay Cullen

EDSA, 22-25 February 1986

It’s the 30th anniversary of the non-violent people’s power ‘revolution’ that toppled the cruel and bloody Marcos dictatorship in 1986. Ironically, the son and namesake of Ferdinand E. Marcos called ‘Bongbong’, who is a senator, is making a strong bid with powerful financial backing for Vice President this election year 2016. For some, it is terrifying to see that a once political T-Rex, thought to be extinct, can make a comeback. If elected, he is only a heartbeat from becoming president should the president have health problems or resigns.

Who would have thought that the bloodiest tyranny and economic disaster to befall the Philippines would ever be so quickly and easily forgotten and overwhelmed by clever and consistent propaganda of the Marcos family and their cronies?

Today, the new generation of Filipinos has little knowledge or awareness of the events and human suffering of that dictatorship that was propped up by the United States of America. Then Vice President, later President, George Bush Sr of the USA, while on an official visit to the Philippines, praised to high heavens the Marcos regime by saying,  ‘We love your adherence to democratic principles and to democratic processes’. 

At the same time, hundreds if not thousands of dissenting and protesting Filipinos were being disappeared, tortured and murdered by the Marcos death squads and those of his cronies. The traditional ruling oligarchy of dynastic families who owned and controlled the country, the one percent more or less, were driven into exile or jailed and lost their economic power, and their business empires were taken over by Marcos and his followers.

Continue here.

‘So he set off and went to his father.’ Sunday Reflections, 4th Sunday of Lent Year C

The Prodigal Son receives his rightful inheritance, Murillo

Museo del Prado, Madrid [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada) 

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

So he told them this parable:

“There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 

Departure of the Prodigal Son, stained glass window, c.1210

Bourges Cathedral, France [Web Gallery of Art]

When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 

The Prodigal Son, Albrecht Dürer, c.1496

Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany [Web Gallery of Art]

But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”So he set off and went to his father. 

But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.  Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

The Return of the Prodigal Son, Murillo, 1667-70

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC [Web Gallery of Art]

“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

The Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt, c.1669

The Hermitage, St Petersburg [Web Gallery of Art]

A priest-friend, now deceased, told me a story about three priests whom he knew in his own country. I’ll call them Father Andy, Father Bert and Father Chris. Father Chris, younger than the other two who were quite well on in years, no longer used the title ‘Father’ as he had left the priesthood.

Father Andy was in hospital and knew he was nearing death. Father Bert went to visit him. The dying man asked his friend for his blessing. But he got a response that he had never expected. ‘When you forgive Chris, then I will bless you’. Father Bert knew that his dying friend had been deeply hurt when Father Chris had left the priesthood. He also knew that he still carried resentment in his heart towards the younger man.

The tears welled up in Father Andy’s eyes and he asked his friend to invite Chris to visit him. He let go of his hurt and resentment, was fully reconciled with Chris – and received from Father Bert the blessing he had asked for, a blessing far greater than he ever could have imagined.

Part of the genius of this parable of Jesus is that it doesn’t have an ending, but an invitation. We don’t know whether or not the older, dutiful son joined the celebration. He can  only see at this moment the wasted life of his younger brother and the immense suffering this had brought to their father, suffering that Rembrandt captures so movingly. 

Return of the Prodigal Son (detail), Rembrandt

The father doesn’t argue with his older son. He is well aware of that son’s sense of responsibility. The father also hears his angry and dismissive ‘this son of yours’. He gently points out, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.

The invitation in the parable is not only to the older son. It is to me. Is the Father inviting me to let go of sins that have separated me from him, a separation that he doesn’t want, by asking his pardon, especially in the sacrament of confession? Or is the Father inviting me to let go of my self-righteousness, my lack of humility, my lack of gratitude for daily blessings, even though I am conscientious in doing what is right?

The Father has reserved a place for each of us at the celebration.

Pope Francis: ‘When was the last time you went to confession?’

Columban Fr Patrick Donohoe RIP

Fr Patrick Donohoe
(1932 – 2016)
 
Fr Patrick (‘Pat’) Donohoe died rather suddenly in Dublin’s Mater Misericordia Hospital on 28 February, 2016. Born at Derryheen, Cavan on 20 May 1932, he was educated at Cavan Convent School, Drumcrave National School and St Patrick’s College, Cavan. He went to St Columban’s, Dalgan Park, Ireland, in 1950 and was ordained priest on 21 December 1956. 
 
Cathedral of St Patrick and St Felim, Cavan [Wikipedia] 
 
His first appointment was to Korea where he would spend the next twenty-three years. He served in Kwangju (now Gwangju) Vicariate before being appointed Regional Bursar for three years. Then he was appointed to the island of Cheju (now Jeju), where he spent five years keeping the books at the St Isidore Development Association and a further ten years in pastoral work.
Jeju Seashore [Wikipedia]
 
 
In 1980 he was assigned to the US Region in order to pursue studies in economics at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, USA.  This led in 1981 to an appointment to the Bursar’s office in Ireland and in the following year to becoming Bursar of the District of Britain. After seven years in that position, he felt the need of a fresh challenge and  was assigned to Jamaica where he again served as Bursar in Montego Bay.
Montego Bay pushcart vendor [Wikipedia]
 
 
At the end of 1991, he was assigned the Region of Ireland and served in pastoral ministry in the Diocese of Clonfert. In May 1998 he was assigned as Chaplain to the Missionary Sisters of St Columban in Magheramore. He spent almost eighteen happy years in this final appointment until he was confined to hospital with chest pains and died within twenty-four hours.
Logo of the Columban Sisters
 
 
As a Bursar, Father Pat was known to be friendly, thorough and competent.
 
His ability to prime a conversation, his gift for repartee, together with his wide interest in social, economic and political affairs made him  good company. He will be missed by all of his Columban colleagues and by the Columban Sisters whom he served faithfully until the end.
 
 May he rest in peace. 
St Columban’s Cemetery, Dalgan Park, Ireland
 
Fr Patrick Raleigh, Regional Director of the Columbans in Ireland, in his covering letter when emailing the obituary of Fr Donohoe noted that ‘at the end of the meal one of Pat’s friends from Cavan sang a few Cavan songs.’ It is becoming a very praiseworthy practice to have a few songs at the post-funeral lunch in Dalgan Park, something that reflects our hope as believers in the Resurrection. And I cannot imagine that the song below, written by Percy French and the best known Cavan song of all, was omitted. 
 
It is said too that this was the favourite Irish song of Pope Pius XII and that he was introduced to it by a priest from Ballyjamesduff who was helping him with his English. I don’t know if His Holiness spoke English with a Cavan accent!

Fifth Anniversary of the assassination of Catholic politician Shahbaz Bhatti in Pakistan

Clement Shahbaz Bhatti

شہباز بھٹی

(9 September 1968 – 2 March 2011)

Shahbaz Bhatti, the first Federal Minister for Minorities in Pakistan, a position he held since 2 November 2008, was shot dead on 2 March 2011 shortly after he left his mother’s home in Islamabad. He came from a Catholic family deeply committed to justice. Of his work he said: ‘I only want a place at the feet of Jesus. I want my life, my character, my actions to speak for me and say that I am a follower of Jesus Christ’.

On TV in Dubai a month before he died.

Here are his own words from the video above:

Minister Bhatti, you forgot one question in the interview. Your life is threatened by whom and what sort of threats are you receiving?

The forces of violence, militant banned organizations, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda, they want to impose their radical philosophy on Pakistan. And whoever stands against their radical philosophy that threatens them, when I’m leading this campaign against the Sharia Law, for the abolishment (abolition) of (the) Blasphemy Law, and speaking for the oppressed and marginalized, persecuted Christian and other minorities, these Taliban threaten me.

But I want to share that I believe in Jesus Christ who has given his own life for us. I know what is the meaning of (the) Cross and I’m following of the Cross and I am ready to die for a cause. I’m living for my community and suffering people and I will die to defend their rights. So these threats and these warnings cannot change my opinion and principles. I will prefer to die for my principle and for the justice of my community rather (than) to compromise on these threats.

Funeral of Shahbaz Bhatti

Sandro Magister, one of the leading journalists covering the Vatican, wrote about the death of Shahbaz Bhatti on 14 April 2011 in A Lesson of Holiness from Remote Pakistan. Magister writes: 

The Bible that Shahbaz always had with him is now in Rome in the memorial for the martyrs of the past century, in the basilica of Saint Bartholomew on the Isola Tiberina.

 

One of the most informative and concerned articles on what his murder has meant in Pakistan and in the whole world is without a doubt the one published in La Civiltà Cattolica dated 2 April 2011.

An article that is all the more significant given that this magazine of the Rome Jesuits is printed after inspection and authorization by the Vatican secretariat of state. So it reflects the thinking of the Holy See in this regard.

In Pakistan, out of a population of 185 million inhabitants, Christians are 2 percent, one million of them Catholic. But among the Muslims as well there are minorities in danger: Shiites, Sufis, Ismaili, Ahmadis.

With Pope Benedict, September 2010

The article in La Civiltà Cattolica was written by Fr Luciano Larivera SJ and includes most of The spiritual testament of Shahbaz Bhatti. I have highlighted parts of this.

‘My name is Shahbaz Bhatti. I was born into a Catholic family. My father, a retired teacher, and my mother, a housewife, raised me according to Christian values and the teachings of the Bible, which influenced my childhood. Since I was a child, I was accustomed to going to church and finding profound inspiration in the teachings, the sacrifice, and the crucifixion of Jesus. It was his love that led me to offer my service to the Church.

‘The frightening conditions into which the Christians of Pakistan had fallen disturbed me. I remember one Good Friday when I was just thirteen years old: I heard a homily on the sacrifice of Jesus for our redemption and for the salvation of the world. And I thought of responding to his love by giving love to my brothers and sisters, placing myself at the service of Christians, especially of the poor, the needy, and the persecuted who live in this Islamic country.

‘I have been asked to put an end to my battle, but I have always refused, even at the risk of my own life. My response has always been the same. I do not want popularity, I do not want positions of power. I only want a place at the feet of Jesus. I want my life, my character, my actions to speak of me and say that I am following Jesus Christ.

‘This desire is so strong in me that I consider myself privileged whenever – in my combative effort to help the needy, the poor, the persecuted Christians of Pakistan – Jesus should wish to accept the sacrifice of my life. I want to live for Christ and it is for Him that I want to die. I do not feel any fear in this country. Many times the extremists have wanted to kill me, imprison me; they have threatened me, persecuted me, and terrorized my family.

‘I say that, as long as I am alive, until the last breath, I will continue to serve Jesus and this poor, suffering humanity, the Christians, the needy, the poor. I believe that the Christians of the world who have reached out to the Muslims hit by the tragedy of the earthquake of 2005 have built bridges of solidarity, of love, of comprehension, and of tolerance between the two religions. If these efforts continue, I am convinced that we will succeed in winning the hearts and minds of the extremists. This will produce a change for the better: the people will not hate, will not kill in the name of religion, but will love each other, will bring harmony, will cultivate peace and comprehension in this region.

‘I believe that the needy, the poor, the orphans, whatever their religion, must be considered above all as human beings. I think that these persons are part of my body in Christ, that they are the persecuted and needy part of the body of Christ. If we bring this mission to its conclusion, then we will have won a place at the feet of Jesus, and I will be able to look at him without feeling shame.’

Columban Fr Tomás King and Gerard Bhatti. a brother of Shahbaz

This song was written and performed by Ooberfuse, a British band, for the first anniversary of the death of Shahbaz Bhatti. The lead singer, Cherrie Anderson, is Filipino-British.

His Blood Cries Out

Verse 1.
These are the hands
They praise the life of you
These are the veins
Your life and love flow through
These are the words we try to write for you
We sing this song

Refrain/Chorus 
His Blood Cries Out
His Blood Cries Out

Verse 2. 
Peace is the star
That guides our hearts to you
Hear all the angels
How they sing for you
These are the words we try to write for you
Help us to erase
This war, this rage
We need to turn the page and
Find true peace within love’s heart
In the silence hear the shout
His blood cries out

Refrain/Chorus

 
His blood cries out
His blood cries out

Verse 3.
These are the prayers
Helpless and the weak
His was the voice
For those that couldn’t speak
For this we cry
Freedom, Love and Peace
What have you done
This war, this rage,
We need to turn the page and
Find true peace within love’s heart
In the silence hear the shout
His blood cries out

Refrain/Chorus. 
His blood cries out
His blood cries out………

A KILLER CYCLONE

A KILLER CYCLONE

by Fr Frank Hoare

A wrecked house in Natanuku

Columban Fr Frank Hoare, based in Fiji, first went there in 1973. He is from Ireland.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston

In mid-February this year Tropical Cyclone Winston passed fairly close to Fiji on an eastward path towards Tonga. It missed the large islands but did damage to some of the smaller Lau islands. It damaged one of the big islands in the Tonga group and then made a sharp U turn picking up force from the heat of the ocean below as it reversed its path towards Fiji. The government issued warnings to everyone to prepare for the cyclone by nailing wooden shields over windows, by tying down roofs with wire, by storing up food and water and candles and by buying batteries for radios and flashlights. Evacuation centers in schools and halls were prepared.

The cyclone passed over the Lau islands again on Saturday, 20 February. It went over the Lomaviti islands in the middle of the Fiji group before steering a path between the two main islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Lev. It finally passed over the Yasawa group and moved south-east between New Zealand and Vanuatu. It was a force 5 cyclone, the strongest every to pass through the South Pacific, with average winds of 250 kph and gusts of up to 320 kph Its slow pace – about four hours to fully pass any point – exacerbated its effects. The winds were accompanied by torrential rain, and some of the coastal villages were also swamped by massive waves washing over them sweeping up everything in their paths. The smaller islands were struck during daylight, otherwise the 43 deaths recorded would have been far exceeded. 50,000 families are now reported homeless.

Devastation in Natanuku

Ba Parish

The Columban parish of Ba felt the force of the cyclone from about 6:30 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. Fr Nilton Iman (from Peru) and Fr John Lee (from Korea) are both young Columban Associate priests who had taken over Ba parish two months previously. They had never experienced anything like this. Fr Nilton was white and speechless with fright. Fr John thought he would not survive the night. Some louvers in the presbytery (convento) were smashed, and the ferocious wind and heavy rain poured in knocking pictures from the walls, scattering glass, books and clothes over the floor and flooding the rooms. Downstairs parish workers Mosese and Peni with a visitor, Mosese Junior, saw the louvers in the side wall of the garage bulging inwards from the force of the wind. They feared that if the windows gave way then the new parish van would be thrown against the pillars and damaged.

Mosese Jr and Peni tried to hold the louvers despite slipping on the wet floor while Mosese Sr searched in vain ffor a hammer. Mosese Jr was scared that the wind would shatter the louver glass and that the shards would slam into his face. As Mosese Sr returned with a half concrete block the other two gave up on the louvers and retreated to the garage. Mosese shouted to them, ‘Hold those windows – they are our life-saver.’ The two returned and piled one table on top of another, and Mosese Sr nailed them against the windows with the make shift hammer.

Natanuku catechist with grandchild in front of collapsed bure

The experience in the villages

Meanwhile in Natanuku village about 15 kilometers away Catholic villagers welcomed Methodists and members of the Assemblies of God into their newly build church. The Catholic catechist opted to remain with his family and two other families in his Fijian style thatched house. Sometime during the ordeal the main posts of his house gave way and the thatched roof sagged to the ground. The three families survived the terrifying storm squashed together in a small cave like space under the roof. Back in the church as the storm abated one of the Catholic leaders, also named Mosese, remarked to the people, ‘I notice a few new faces here tonight. The bell rings every Sunday and some of you seem a bit deaf to it. Tonight there was no bell but you are here!’

Votua is a big village on the Ba river with houses close together. Their veteran catechist, Ramoce, said that they were surprised that the cyclone came, not from the east as they had expected from past experience, but from the south. The noise of the galvanized iron being folded back, being torn off roofs and smashing into other roofs was deafening and terrifying. The children screamed and the mothers cried inside the houses. People emerged from damaged houses and risked injuries from flying timber and roofing iron to rush into stronger houses nearby. Ramoce pushed tables and heavy wet mattresses against the windows of their house. They were grateful that, because the Ba river had been dredged after the last flood, the river didn’t overflow its banks and flood the village as well. After the cyclone some people complained that the terrible noise of that night was still echoing in their ears. Traumatic memories continue to haunt many.

Iowane, the catechist from the nearby Nawaqarua village, left his family in their solid concrete house to keep watch alone in the village timber church. He was worried about the safety of the Eucharist there. After some time the howling wind burst open the front door of the church. Iowane opened a side door to allow the wind an escape passage rather than risk the roof being blown off. The mats and linoleum were soaked, but the church and Eucharist were saved.

The Aftermath

Back in the parish center when the cyclone had passed on about 10:30 p.m. Peni mixed some yaqona, the traditional Fiji drink, for Frs. Nilton and John Lee who had joined them during the cyclone and were now unable to sleep. There was a call for a hymn, and Fr. John started a hymn to Mary. Fr. Nilton followed up with a hymn to Christ. Mosese shared his amazement that small, light Fr. Nilton had pulled a very heavy tool box, without any help, against the garage door that was smashed open by the wind. Mosese had previously been unable to move that tool box.

When I visited the villages of Natanuku, Votua and Nawaqarua a few days after the cyclone with some food rations I found the villagers nailing down roofs, clearing up fallen debris and drying out clothes and mattresses. Old friends greeted me. The catechists Ramoce and Iowane invited me to share a bowl of yaqona. I was glad to see that the government rations had begun to reach the most affected. As I drove away, the sky was red with the setting sun behind me and the smoky flames of the fires burning rubbish were dotted throughout the village. I was struck with admiration for the courage, faith and good humor of the people of Fiji who refused to be crushed by this very traumatic experience.

On Being Fully Human. Fr Shay Cullen’s Reflections, 19 February 2016

On Being Fully Human

by Fr Shay Cullen

Academia Kids, Las Mañanitas a la Virgen de Guadalupe, Mexico, 12 December 2013

The deplorable remarks of Philippine congressman and famous world boxing title holder Congressman Manny Pacquiao wherein he described gay people as ‘worse than animals’ are vile comments that are to be condemned, rejected and repudiated in the strongest terms possible. He has since apologized.

We as humans have to recognize and respect the dignity of every human person and end discrimination of all kinds whether it be based on race, religion, gender, culture or social and economic status. As Pope Francis says, ‘Who are we to judge?’

US presidential candidate Donald Trump wants to build a wall to stop Mexican migrants and has insulted and condemned them as criminals and rapists and has called for the banning of Muslims coming into the United States. In response, the Pope said ‘A person who only thinks about building walls and not of bridges is not Christian, this is not gospel’. . .

. . . Even children and people in old age with disabilities are disposable, based on the economic costs to care for them. The immoral politicians and their rich supporters who get them into office prefer to abort children, deny medical support to disabled children and allow them to die or pressure the elderly to commit assisted or planned suicide. The tyrants of war are bombing, gassing and starving their fellow human beings into submission and extermination in Syria.

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Editor’s note: Our Lady of Guadalupe, being honored at her shrine in Mexico City on her feast day, 12 December, by the children in the video, is the Patroness of the Unborn. And, under that title, she is also a Secondary Patroness of the Philippines.

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe [Wikipedia]

Virgin of Guadalupe,
Patroness of unborn children,
we implore your intercession
for every child at risk of abortion.
Help expectant parents to welcome from God
the priceless gift of their child’s life.

Console parents who have lost that gift
through abortion,
and lead them to forgiveness and healing
through the Divine Mercy of your Son.

Teach us to cherish
and to care for family and friends
until God calls them home.
Help us never to see others as burdens.

Guide our public officials
to defend each and every human life
through just laws.
Inspire us all to bring our faith into public life,
to speak for those who have no voice.

We ask this in the name of your Son,
Jesus Christ, who is Love and Mercy itself.
Amen.