REFLECTION ON THE FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

When Jesus heals, and there are many miracle stories in the gospels, he always seems to link healing with conversion and faith.  He utters the words “Your sins are forgiven”, or their equivalent, on many occasions. For a number of reasons, the religious leaders of Israel disliked him. He taught “with authority” rather than like the Pharisees, who taught from the previous teachings of great rabbis in a legal fashion, according to precedent. He flouted so many of their laws, comparing them unfavourably with the grace and mercy of God. They were afraid that his teaching would provoke an uprising which would bring the full weight of Roman justice crashing down upon them.

In an episode from the Gospels, Jesus is teaching when he is confronted by the paralysed man on a stretcher. There are scribes and Pharisees present, listening, it would seem, for something he might say or do that they could use against him. He first tells the man, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then he actually heals the paralysed man. His forgiveness of the man’s sins provokes the Pharisees to anger. They believe he is blaspheming by claiming the right to forgive sins, which belongs to God alone. Their reasoning is this: “This man claims to be able to forgive sins. This makes him out to be a sinner and a blasphemer. God does not listen to sinners, Therefore, Jesus cannot heal the man.”

Jesus does then heal the man, proving the opposite: Because he can heal the man, God listens to him. Therefore he is not a sinner. Therefore he does have the power to forgive sins. He has beaten the Pharisees at their own game. The implication is that he really is the son of God, though he does not explicitly say so.

We can be so like the Pharisees, even in the world of today. We listen to the teachings of the Church, not to imbibe and obey them, but to find fault with them, to let ourselves off the hook, so to speak. We try to rationalise the difference between what we want and what the Church teaches. We want to do it “my way”, not God’s, when it doesn't suit us. Yet Jesus is God’s son, as today’s parable proves, and therefore the bearer of all truth. In the words of God heard at Jesus’ baptism, “This is my son, the Beloved. Listen to him.”

We need to be less like the Pharisees, thought themselves righteous enough to pass judgement on the Son of God. We need to be more like the paralytic and his friends, who had such humble faith in Jesus that he healed the man. Only in this way can we be the recipients of his love and forgiveness. Only in this way can we receive spiritual healing from God as he tells us that our sins are forgiven, that we, too, as a result, are able to “Get up, take up our beds and walk.”

Fr. Phillip

REFLECTION ON THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Leprosy was a terrible disease for a member of the nation of Israel to contract. Humanly, it meant that you were one moment a person with a home, a member of your people, living a respectable life in the community. The next, as the leprous lesions appeared, you became an outcast; expelled from your home, your town, from all normal patterns of life. You were forced to cover your face, which would become ravaged by the disease. You had to scrape a living based on the generosity of those who would leave food for you at a safe distance. You had to proclaim yourself vocally as “unclean.” Since few, if any, recovered, it was in effect a death sentence, lived out in exile from all that was once yours; home, family and community.

In addition, such a sickness was also seen in Israel as a curse, a punishment for sin. That is why the Jewish priests had to declare someone with the dreaded lesions as unclean. As well as the religious ban, the community had to protect itself from what was a seriously threatening contagious disease. In those times, the only viable option was ejection from the community. It was a terrible, hard measure, but there was no other form of protection that was available to the people of the time.

Against this background, we can imagine what Jesus’ healing must have meant to the lepers he cured. Re-admittance to the community, to family, to a comfortable and respectable home lifestyle. No longer an outcast, despised and feared by the community – it is no wonder that former lepers responded with such joy to Jesus’ healing actions. Freed from the curse implied by the disease, returning not only to the community but to a relationship with God, was, for a healed leper, the ultimate joy.

Leprosy is a symbol of the effects of sin in our lives. Sin distances us from God and his Church, and the more we allow it to become a part of our lives, the more it can distance us from God. Like the lepers in the New Testament, we need to seek out Jesus, to plead for his forgiveness, to seek his mercy, which makes us whole again. He has given us the wonderful sacrament of Reconciliation, in which we can experience his forgiveness by confessing our sins and receiving absolution. There is no sin he cannot or will not forgive, if only we are truly sorry for committing it. How many times did Jesus say to those whom he healed, “Go and sin no more”? He says it to us still today. We need to seek his mercy with all our hearts, that we may be freed from the effects of sin in our lives, free to live among his people, in his Church; to approach him with joy and freedom.

Fr. Phillip

HEALING SERVICE IN HONOUR OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES

Our Lady's Grotto at Lourdes

On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus. A little more than three years later, on February 11, 1858, a young lady appeared to Bernadette Soubirous. This began a series of visions. During the apparition on March 25, the lady identified herself with the words: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

Bernadette was a sickly child of poor parents. Their practice of the Catholic faith was scarcely more than lukewarm. Bernadette could pray the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Creed. She also knew the prayer of the Miraculous Medal: “O Mary conceived without sin.”

Fr. Cyriacus Anointing During the Service

During interrogations Bernadette gave an account of what she saw. It was “something white in the shape of a girl.” She used the word aquero, a dialect term meaning “this thing.” It was “a pretty young girl with a rosary over her arm.” Her white robe was encircled by a blue girdle. She wore a white veil. There was a yellow rose on each foot. A rosary was in her hand. Bernadette was also impressed by the fact that the lady did not use the informal form of address (tu), but the polite form (vous). The humble virgin appeared to a humble girl and treated her with dignity.

Through that humble girl, Mary revitalized and continues to revitalize the faith of millions of people. People began to flock to Lourdes from other parts of France and from all over the world. In 1862 Church authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions and authorized the cult of Our Lady of Lourdes for the diocese. The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes became worldwide in 1907.

Parishioners were afforded an opportunity to
pray together

Since then, Lourdes has become a place of pilgrimage and healing, but even more of faith. Church authorities have recognized over 60 miraculous cures, although there have probably been many more. To people of faith this is not surprising. It is a continuation of Jesus’ healing miracles—now performed at the intercession of his mother. Some would say that the greater miracles are hidden. Many who visit Lourdes return home with renewed faith and a readiness to serve God in their needy brothers and sisters. There still may be people who doubt the apparitions of Lourdes. Perhaps the best that can be said to them are the words that introduce the film The Song of Bernadette: “For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.”

Fr. Cyriacus prays with
the Sardinha's

For the Community-in-Formation in Bloemfontein, St. Bernadette carries much significance. It for her that the parish church cared for by our mother house in Port Elizabeth is named. And so on the 11th of February this year, the feast was kept in the Sacred Heart Cathedral with a Mass of Our Lady in the morning (held in the Lady Chapel as usual), and a Healing Service in the evening. The latter was attended by around 100 people, some of whom are among those housebound who receive communion through our Extraordinary Ministers.

The service began with a Rite of Blessing and Sprinkling of Water, followed by a short service of readings with hymns and a homily prepared by Fr. Phillip. After that there was a chance for those present to receive the sacrament of the sick, confession, or to simply have the opportunity to pray with fellow parishioners. 

A healing service of sorts takes place in the Cathedral every year, but a member of the congregation commented that the attendance this year was noticeably better than in previous years. Furthermore, an encouraging sign was the length of the queue outside the confessional!

St. Bernadette, pray for us!

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!

CBC RETREAT WITH THE ORATORIAN COMMUNITY

Mass for the Matric Group

The high school learners of Christian Brothers College in Bloemfontein are currently taking part in a week-long retreat. The two groups each had a day of recollection at the Cathedral, led by Fr. Phillip, who in on the CBC teaching staff. 

The Christian Brothers were founded in Ireland in the early 1800’s by a widower called Edmund Rice. He was a middle-aged man, called by the Holy Spirit to devote his life and wealth to remedying the very difficult political situation that had occurred in Ireland, especially in the field of education. The youth at the time were subjected to humiliation, demoralisation as well as being forced to adopt a foreign religion. In 1800 Edmund Rice, who had now handed over his wealthy business after deciding to follow Christ in religious life, opened his first school in a stable in New Street, Waterford, Ireland. The tree had been planted. His concern for the marginalised, especially the young people, did not stop at their education. He employed a baker and tailor to feed and clothe those who attended the school, visited the imprisoned and performed all the other corporal works of mercy. Others joined him and together they became the first Christian Brothers.

The Main Quad at CBC Bloemfontein

It was in 1897 that the first Christian Brothers were invited to South Africa, with the first school being established in Kimberley in the Cape Colony. The school was a success, and further expansion took place. Christian Brothers’ College Pretoria opened in 1922. Christian Brothers’ College Boksburg and Christian Brothers’ College Cape Town opened in 1934. Bloemfontein CBC was opened in 1940.

On Monday we welcomed the matrics. They began the day with several activities in the Donovan Hall, after which the group of about 30 attended Mass in the Lady Chapel. This chapel has not been used extensively up until now, save for taking the overflow from the 9am Mass. However, we have recently begun to use it for the Wednesday morning parish Mass, which had formerly been held in a meeting room. It is a truly beautiful and intimate setting.

The Tuesday Group at Mass

On Tuesday the group consisting of Grade 10 and 11 learners had their turn. Seeing as there were around 60 pupils, Mass was held at the main altar.

The learners from both groups enjoyed a day of deep reflection, relaxation, and a chance to wander through the Cathedral gardens. 

REFLECTION ON THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

We are all familiar with the parable of the Pharisee and the tax-collector praying at the Temple in Jerusalem. “I thank you, God, that I am not like other men…” the Pharisee begins, and goes on to list all the virtuous things he has done. On the other hand, the tax-collector simply prays, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” The Pharisee has no doubt obeyed the Law of God to the letter. There is nothing wrong with that; a Jew is expected to obey God’s Law. But somehow the Pharisee seems to think that this makes him especially virtuous, better than other humans. In fact, all he has done is what he ought to do. Far from being a great virtue, such obedience is no more than his due to God.

In today’s second reading, Paul, himself once a Pharisee before converting to faith in the resurrected Lord Jesus, makes just that point. For Paul, “If I preach the Gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting…Woe to me if I do not  preach the Gospel!” In another place he says, “When we have done all that is required of us, we are no more than unworthy servants.” Paul has almost given up his own individuality for the sake of the Gospel: “I have become all things to all men.”

That is our calling, too. When we serve God, when we do his will, we are not doing some wonderful thing for which God owes us a reward. Serving God, obeying him, is not a virtue; it is a necessity. Doing what God requires of us is our daily bread. But it is also a gift. Even as we are serving God, obeying him, he is giving to us. In John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “My food is to do the work of the one who sent me.” Even as we serve him, God is giving to us through the very tasks we carry out at his command. We cannot be more generous than God. In doing his will, we are receiving more than we could ever possibly give. Paul did everything “for the sake of the Gospel”. If we really want to serve him, if we really want to experience the fullness of his love and mercy, then so should we.

Fr. Phillip