True Fidelity

Vincent Travers op

It may be a simple word a kind gesture, a gentle smile a touch of humanity”

With age, and as I grow older and enter my twilight years, I am less confident, less sure of God and religion, unlike when I was in my younger years. Now, as never before, I realize more and more how tremendous the mystery of God is. The more I ponder its magnitude, the more I grasp how ineffable God is, the more clearly I see that my understanding of God is a long way from being adequate and sure.

The longer I live, the less I know of the mystery of God. The older I get, the more I see how blind I am to my own weaknesses and hypocrisies. I don’t always know when I am rationalizing or how biased I am when walking in the footsteps of the man from Galilee. And even when I think I do know what I am called to do,when I think I am being faithful, I don’t always have the strength or will to do what I know to be right. And I see how unfaithful I am.

Great Action

But when I remember the invitation that Jesus extended at the Last Supper to keep alive his memory, to celebrate, do what he did, I know, at least, in this great action, we are being faithful. We are doing what we should be doing. We are measuring up to what Jesus asks of us. Each time we listen to his word, break bread, eat his body and drink his blood, attend mass, we are being faithful to his command; we are obeying his dying wishes: ‘Do this in memory of me’. I know, too, we are doing what he asks of his church. I know, whatever the many failings of the church are, the church in this great act of worship, has always been faithful to the heart of Jesus in his dying moments.

Obeying Divine Command

In this one deep, personal, and meaningful way, as the people of God, we can be faithful, we can measure up. Whereas, in so many other ways we can’t always control how we feel, how we think and behave. But when celebrating Eucharist, regardless of our inadequacies and weaknesses, flaws and failings, doubts and confusion, we are doing, individually and collectively, what Jesus wants us to do. We are being truly faithful in keeping alive his memory and loving presence amongst us in his way.

Justice and Love

Frank McCourt in his autobiography tells a boyhood story about himself in his hometown, Limerick, Ireland. After his mother had given birth, relatives sent a gift of five pounds to buy milk for the newborn baby. But his father, an alcoholic, took the money and spent it in a pub, drinking. His mother sent young Frank to go out to look for his father, find him, and bring him home. Instead, he finds a drunken sailor in a pub asleep with a plate of untouched fish and chips in front of him. Frank, starving with hunger, takes the fish and chips and eats them in the street outside the pub. Then his boyish conscience nags him. He feels guilty of stealing and decides to go to confession in St. Saviour’s, Dominican Church, close by. He confesses that he stole the fish and chips from a drunk in a pub. The priest asks why he did it. Frank answers that he was hungry and there wasn’t a scrap of food in the house, and that his father was drinking with the money for the newborn baby.

Simple and Profound

The priest doesn’t say a word. Instead of chiding Frank and giving him a penance he remains silent. Frank begins to think that he has fallen asleep. And then the priest speaks, “Child, I sit here. I hear the sins of the poor and give them absolution. But I should be the one on his knees washing their feet. Go and pray for me.” He blesses Frankie in Latin and talks to himself in English. Frankie wonders what he did (Angela’s Ashes, 185).

We have in that simple encounter between priest and boy a challenging description of Eucharist. We should be on our knees washing each other’s feet because that is what Jesus did at the Last Supper (John chapter 13).

Justice

‘To wash feet’ is biblical language calling us to service, to do what Jesus did, to “lay down our lives”, to love others for their own sakes. To be of service in whatever way we can, however humble, and not be a ‘selfie’. It may be a simple word, a kind gesture, a gentle smile, a touch of humanity. Treating a human being as a human being, with respect. Small is beautiful. Eucharist calls on us to see each other as persons, not objects or things. To unite in whatever way we can, in whatever separates and divides us, from the alienated, marginalized, and discriminated.

That is Eucharist. Eucharist and Justice are inseparable.

Questions And Answers

Question 1. Is it true that a soul in purgatory can continue to sin, as in not forgiving a person who may have hurt them during their life? Why are souls in purgatory referred to as “holy souls” when they are there only on account of their sins?

Answer:

They are called ‘holy’ because they are in union with God and can no longer sin. Already saved they are awaiting the moment when they are fully cleansed of their sins and will be admitted into the fullness of the presence of God. Not only do they forgive those who may have hurt them in this life but they can also pray and obtain blessings for those of us still here on earth.

Question 2. In April 1829 Daniel O Connell won Catholic Emancipation for the Irish People. In practical terms what did that mean?

Answer:

Briefly, it meant that Catholics could now sit as MPs at Westminster. It meant also that Catholics were eligible for all public offices except those of Lord Chancellor, Monarch, Regent, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and any judicial appointment in any ecclesiastical court. This lifted most civil restrictions.

Question 3. What is the original story behind The Cross of Cong?

Answer:

Origins of the Cross

The Cross of Cong is a processional cross, a type of cross common at the time for ceremonial processions. The cross was commissioned (in the twelfth century) by Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht and (according to the inscription of the cross at least) High King of Ireland. He had it made in order to donate it to and thus form a valuable partnership with the Cathedral of Tuam in Galway.

What happened to the Cross?

The Cross was originally known as the Cross of Roscommon since it was made and started its life there. Although it was in Tuam for a time, it was transferred to Cong at some point, most likely for safekeeping with the increasing threat of attacks and invasions of religious sites in Ireland. It was probably used there for very special occasions in the following centuries, but would have been hidden among locals and members of religious orders in their own homes due to persecution against Catholics during the Penal Laws. One thing is for sure, it would never have been on public display at this time when not in use.

Eventually, in 1829, the cross finally emerged from hiding when the last abbot of Cong, Fr. Prendergast, revealed on his deathbed that he had been keeping it hidden in his belongings for decades. A professor at Trinity College named James MacCullagh bought it from Prendergast’s successor and gave it to the Royal Irish Academy. It can now be seen in the National Museum of Ireland.

The Industral Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was characterised by enormous growth in many areas of industry: mining, engineering, transport, and construction, to name but a few. As the industrial revolution developed, so did its demand for more iron and steel. Britain led the world’s Industrial Revolution with its early commitment to coal mining, steam power, machinery, railways, and shipbuilding. Iron was one of the most basic requirements of these new industries.

The Age of Iron

In the 1700s, iron was by no means a new material, it had been around since the Iron Age nearly 3000 years earlier. However, production of iron was restricted to small-scale smelting of iron ores. And the amount that could be produced was limited. Iron was produced by smelting it with charcoal (wood that has been heated in the absence of air to burn off the impurities in the wood and leave it enriched in carbon).

Unfortunately, Britain had depleted huge areas of forest for building and fuel since the 1500s; its timber supplies for charcoal could not sustain the new demand, and the country had become strongly dependent on iron imports from Sweden. What was needed was a method by which iron could be smelted in serious tonnage quantities; this was going to need a better heat source than charcoal.

Coal looked like it might be such a fuel. There was a problem, though: coal tends to have a high concentration of sulphur, which, along with other impurities, makes iron brittle. So, iron produced by smelting with coal was of very poor quality.

Abraham Derby and Henry Cort

In 1708, Abraham Darby had the idea of using not coal, but coke to smelt the iron. Coke is made by controlled heating of coal in the same way that charcoal is produced from wood. Coke was the key step in developing a furnace capable of making cast iron on a large scale.

This development led to the cast iron industry being founded on the banks of the Severn at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, England. The Old Furnace, parts of which still exist today, was the forerunner of the modern blast furnace. It was used to make the members of the first cast iron bridge, spanning the River Seven. The Iron Bridge, as it is appropriately called, was opened in 1781; it was the first major bridge in the world to be made of cast iron and was greatly celebrated after construction owing to its use of the new material.

Although this was a major development, the impact was limited as the iron was still brittle; however, it was a major step forward in the production of iron for the Industrial Revolution’s advancement.

The key development came in 1783, when English Ironmaster Henry Cort, obtained a patent for grooved rollers that were capable of producing iron bars more quickly and economically than the old methods of hammering or of cutting strips from a rolled plate. The following year he patented his puddling process, a method of converting pig iron (crude iron obtained directly from the blast furnace and cast in moulds which resembled a sow suckling piglets) into wrought iron. It was the first method that allowed wrought iron to be produced on a large scale.

1825 has been called the start of the new Iron Age as the iron industry experienced a massive stimulation from the heavy demand for railways, which needed iron rails, iron in the stock, bridges and tunnels. From 1793 blast furnaces got bigger, iron production quadrupled and by 1850, Britain had become renowned around the world for railway iron and was the largest European producer and exporter of iron to the rest of Europe and America.

The Age of Steel

Like iron, steel was known in antiquity and had been produced in blast furnaces for thousands of years. It is an alloy of iron and carbon. Wrought iron has little carbon, just enough to make it hard without losing its malleability; cast iron has a lot of carbon which makes it hard but brittle and non-malleable. In between wrought and cast iron is steel making it harder than wrought iron, yet malleable and flexible, unlike cast iron. These properties make steel far more useful than either wrought or cast iron. Unfortunately, there was no simple way to control the carbon level in iron so that steel could be manufactured cheaply and efficiently in large quantities; that is, until 1856 when British metallurgist, engineer, and inventor, Sir Henry Bessemer, came up with a technique to mass produce it. The Bessemer Process, as it is known, lowered the cost of producing steel and led to steel being widely the substitute for cast iron. This revolution in steel production provided cheaper, higher-quality material and meant that, finally, iron ore from anywhere in the world could be used to make steel.

Steel is now the world’s most important engineering and construction material. It is used in every aspect of our lives; in cars and construction products, refrigerators and washing machines, cargo ships and surgical scalpels, and much more besides.

The impact of the Industrial Revolution on society

The Industrial Revolution marked the transition to new manufacturing processes. New chemical manufacturing, iron and steel production, water power, steam power, machine tools and the rise of the factory system. Other changes included improved roadways, waterways, and railways.

The volume and variety of factory-produced goods raised the standard of living for many people and job opportunities in growing factories resulted in a population shift from rural areas.

One of the defining impacts of the Industrial Revolution was the rise of cities. By 1850, for the first time in world history, more people lived in cities than in rural areas and the new industrialised cities grew the economies of their nations.

Improved transportation also meant as people moved to new places, ideas and information spread. This was the beginning of our modern world.

Animals And The Saints

If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.’

St. Francis of Assisi

The Saint that comes to mind The when we think about animals is of course St. Francis of Assisi. He spoke of God’s love for all creation and he considered the animals his brothers and sisters. There is a story that he tamed a fierce wolf who was keeping the citizens of Gubbio in Umbria behind the walls of the city, too frightened to venture out, as he was a killer of livestock and men. Frances made peace with the wolf and pertinently observed that it was only because he was suffering hunger that he had done evil. He promised the wolf that the citizens he had once terrorised would in the future give him food. This pledge was honoured. At Gubbio’s Church of St Francis of Peace in 1872, during restoration, the centuries-old skeleton of a large wolf was discovered near the foundations.

A wolf also appears in the story of St Ailbhe, an Irish bishop, who as a baby, was abandoned in the forest but nurtured by a she-wolf. Years later, after he had become a bishop, an older she-wol,f pursued by a hunting party, fled to the Bishop and laid her head upon his breast. Ailbhe protected his former foster-mother and every day welcomed her and her little ones to take their food in the hall.

St Ciaran, converted to the Christian faith by St Patrick, was building himself a cell in a lonely woodland district. Suddenly, he noticed a fierce-looking boar. He spoke gently to him, addressing him as ‘Brother Boar’. The boar, realising Ciaran was a friend,d helped him to build his shelter, tearing down strong branches with his teeth.

All God’s Creatures

There are other saints who are linked with various animals. St Odo of Cluny was rescued by a wolf when he was attacked by foxes. The sixth century Irish bish- op St Colman was awakened by a cock each morning for his Vigils; a mouse would scurry about to keep him from giving in to sleep. St Jerome took a thorn from the paw of a lion who repaid him by serving at the monastery until the end of his life. St Francis of Paola is said to have had a pet lamb and a pet trout that were accidentally killed for food. However the saint raised them both from the dead. St Anthony Abbot lived as a hermit in Egypt and was followed around by a pig whose illness he had cured. St. Cuthbert is the patron of otters. Two of these beautiful creatures would come and warm his feet as he stood by the North Sea during his nightly prayer vigils. St Melan-gell of Wales sheltered a hunted hare in the folds of her gown, and St Roche, abandoned, having contracted the Plague, was brought bread by a dog who licked his wounds.

A common thread running through these tales is compassion and a willingness to recognise animals as part of God’s plan. Martin Buber, an important religious philosopher, recognised the Divine Connection as a young boy when stroking his favourite horse. Inherent in the act was his own emotion,n but also an awareness of how the horse felt experiencing the loving action.

Our own St Martin made it possible for a dog, a cat, and a little mouse to partake from the same bowl; an example of the all-inclusive love which breaks down the barriers that separate us from one another, a harmony which was lost after the expulsion from Eden. Animals point us to the interdependent relationship between all of creation, wherein we are called by a loving God, to be the best that we can be.

The Bible Lectio Divina

Do You Love Me?

Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (John 21: 16)

It is possible for us to relate to Jesus as we would to a doctor or a counsellor who has been very good to us, who has given us huge help and is genuinely concerned about our welfare. We would not see such a relationship as one of friendship or affection.

Karl Rahner was one of the great theologians of the past century. All through his life he studied what Jesus had taught. At the age of seventy-seven he wrote a book about loving Jesus. He stressed that though Jesus was the Son of God, he was fully human, like us in all things except sin. He rose from the dead and is alive now. We can love him immediately and concretely.

Fr. Rahner described a conversation he had with another theologian who spoke about Jesus in an abstract and ‘heady’ way that had little to do with the Jesus of the normal Christian faith. Fr. Rahner said to him, “Yes, you see you are actually only dealing with Jesus when you throw your arms around him and realise right down to the bottom of your being that this is something you can still do today.”

Tenderness

Two qualities of Jesus make it easier for us to throw our arms around him. One of these is his tenderness. When the apostles tried to prevent children coming to Jesus he was annoyed and said, “Let the little children come to me and do not stop them”. Then he put his arms round them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing. St. Luke wrote that Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus; he wept at the tomb of Lazarus. When Jesus saw the crowds who were harassed and dejected, he felt sorry for them.

We see his tenderness in the stories he told. While he was still a long way off the father of the prodigal son saw him and was moved with pity. “He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly.” When the woman with the bad name in the town poured perfumed ointment on his feet and dried them with her hair, he was at ease with this gesture of tenderness. At the Last Supper he told his apostles that “no one has greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends… You are my friends.”

Meekness

The second quality that makes it easier for us to throw our arms around Jesus is his meekness. To be meek does not mean to be timid or weak. Jesus stood his ground before the high priest, and before Pilate and Herod. Some of his opponents conceded, “We know you are an honest man, that you are not afraid of anyone because a person’s rank means nothing to you.”

To be meek is to be unassuming, unpretentious, gentle, not pushy or dominating or standing on one’s dignity. St. Paul said, “Though he was in the form of God, he did not count his equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.” He chose to be an unknown carpenter in Nazareth for most of his life. During his public lif,e he had nowhere to lay his head. He insisted that he came not to be served but to serve. At the Last Supper, he washed his disciples’ feet.

Is this how he really is?

Was this just a way that Jesus presented himself? Is this how he really is? He said that one day we will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory. Does that mean he will be a king in royal splendour surrounded by servants? The Scottish theologian, John McQuarrie, wrote a meditation on Jesus washing his disciples’ feet: “The humility and form of a servant are not disguises of God, unnatural to him, but of his very essence. He cannot draw near as a prince or as a professor, but only in some utterly lowly and obscure form.”

Maybe we get a glimpse of this same truth on Easter morning. When Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalen at the tomb, she did not recognise him. But she did not mistake him for a high priest or an important official; she thought he was the gardener.

All of this suggests that we can be bolder in our relationship with Jesus. Not less respectful but more expressive. St. Catherine of Siena used to pray, “Sweet Jesus, Jesus Love!” I know a woman who relates with Jesus in a warm and familiar way. When things go well for her she spontaneously says, “Jesus, you’re a dinger!” (1) checked in a dictionary: a “dinger” is something “excellent and outstanding”).

Prayer from Psalm 18

I love you Lord, my strength. my rock, my fortress, my saviour. My God is the rock where I take refuge my shield my mighty help, my stronghold.

St Joseph – A Man Of Faith

The Church venerates the saints because they are examples of how we should live as Christians. Not that we are to be exact replicas of any one but honouring them and remembering them helps and inspires us to follow Christ to the full in the circumstances of life in which we find ourselves. The saints are also seen as our intercessors before God. Celebrating the life of a saint we acknowledge also what God can do with all those who entrust themselves to Him and allow Him to work in their lives.

We know little about St. Joseph. The gospels do not give us much information about him. We can see that he was trusted by Mary and by God, and was found suitable for the task he was given. He is a man of Faith who believes without question what the Angel of the Lord tells Him. He works no miracles, leaves no memorial. He is the carpenter who spends his life in that work and takes pride in the work of his hands. He is faithful to fulfilling his role as spouse to Mary and foster father of Jesus.

Since he appears no more in the later Gospel story, he is presumed to have died with Mary and Jesus at his side, and so is a patron for the dying. But in the long run his greatest praise is simply the words of the prayer saying that he is ‘that just man, that wise and loyal servant, whom you placed at the head of your family’

St. Joseph, the carpenter, is the Patron of all workers everywhere and the patron saint of the universal church. He is venerated also as the patron of a happy death, and a prayer in the breviary asks him “to direct our way to Heaven. St. Joseph, be our guide.”

Last Days Of Napoleon

Napoleon Bonaparte died on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean on May 5, 1821. He had been in the custody of the British government since 1814. He was fifty-two years of age and for ten of those years he had borne the title Emperor of the French. He was styled General Bonaparte during the years of his exile. Apart from being confined to St. Helena, Napoleon was not subjected to any indignity or ill treatment. He lived in a house named Longwood, which was built to receive him. While on St. Helena, Napoleon dictated his memoirs to Montholon, one of his companions in exile. In this and in other accounts of his conversations on St. Helen, we cannot be certain how much derives directly from Napoleon’s own personal recollection and how much is due to the personal or political interests of those who recorded and edited them. They contain no reference to the appalling destruction of human life or the misery which resulted from Napoleon’s endless wars in pursuit of glory. The legendary hero of myth, rather than the ruthless despot that he was in reality, begins to appear in these memoirs.

Cruel slaughter forgotten

One of Napoleon’s companions in exile wrote an account of his conversations entitled “A Memorial of St. Helena.” The following remarkable reflection is attributed to him: “Our situation here may even have its attractions. The universe is looking at us. We remain the martyrs of an immortal cause. Millions of men weep for us. The fatherland sighs and Glory is in mourning. We struggle here against the oppression of the gods, and the longings of the nations are for us… Adversity was wanting to my career. If I had died on the throne amidst the clouds of my omnipotence, I should have remained a problem for many men. Today, thanks to misfortune, they can judge of me naked as I am.” This romantic image of a new Prometheus chained to the rocks was to remain remarkably powerful. The good which Napoleon undoubtedly did in consolidating the positive achievements of the Revolution was remembered. The countless evils of his tyranny and of his never-ending pursuit of Glory was shrouded in a romantic vision of war as a heroic and glorious adventure. The legend worked powerfully for his fame and for the fortunes of Napoleonic dynasty. The sanctification of legitimacy as the sole title to a throne and the restored Bourbon alliance with the Church could not compete with this potent myth.

Pope not to be bought.

Napoleon is also reported to have said during his exile: “I should have had the Pope close by my side, then I would have been master of religion as surely as if I had been her sole lord. The Pope would have done everything I wanted and I would have suffered no opposition from the faithful.” Napoleon’s experience of the determined opposition to his plans for the Church by Pope Pius VII, even though imprisoned and separated from his advisors, should have dispelled this strange fantasy. But Napoleon’s views on religious matters were purely political. He did not understand that the Church could never concede to Caesar the things that belong to God. In his political testament, which Napoleon wrote for his son there is only one reference to religion. It is this: “Religious ideas have more influence than certain narrow-minded philosophers are willing to believe; they are capable of rendering great service to Humanity. By standing well with the Pope, an influence is still maintained over the con- sciences of the hundred million of men.” The viewpoint is purely political. Did he repent? In his will, Napoleon declared that he died in communion with the Apostolical Roman Churc,h in whose bosom he had been born. Extreme Unction was administered to him when he was dying and had already lost consciousness. Whether his religion had become anything more to him at that stage than a part of the politics of this world must remain a mystery. He was buried on St. Helena according to the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1840 his ashes were disinterred and returned to France.

Pope shows love to sad family

Pope Pius VII, who had suffered grievously at the hands of Napoleon wrote to his Cardinal Secretary of State, Consalvi, in October 1817: “Napoleon’s fami- ly have made known to us through Cardinal Fesch that the craggy island of Saint Helena is mortally injurious to health, and that the poor exile is dying by inches. We have been deeply grieved to hear this, as without doubt you will be, for we ought both to remember that, after God, it is to him chiefly that is due the reestablishment of religion in that great kingdom of France. The pious and courageous initiative of 1801 has made us long forget and pardon the wrongs that followed. Savona and Fontainebleau were only mistakes due to temper, or the frenzies of human ambition. The concordat was a healing act, Christian and heroic. Napoleon’s mother and family have appealed to our pity and our generosity. We think it is right to respond to that appeal. We are certain that we shall only be ordering you to act as you would wish to act when we instruct you to write on Our behalf to the allied sovereigns, and in particular to the Prince Regent. He is your dear and good friend, and we wish you to ask him to lighten the sufferings of so hard an exile. Nothing would give us greater joy than to have con- tributed to the lessening of Napoleon’s hardships. He can no longer be a danger to anybody. We would not wish him to become a cause for remorse.” It was only in Rome, a city and its Ruler that had suffered greatly at the hands of Napoleon, that his mother and his own family were made welcome when he was in exile on St. Helena.

The Garden This Month

Deirdre Anglim

ummer is here. Purple and white osteospermum bloom on either side of the front gate. Lime green euphorbia is magnificent, contrasting with the white clematis which climbs the bamboo wigwam at the granite wall. Oxalis flowers everywhere. Pink and white bellis continue to brighten the borders. Aquilegia in pale yellow, white, and purple have self-seeded along the bed. Blue lungwort sprawls nearby.

Lilac scents the air in the back garden. The apple tree is laden with blossom, so I’m hoping for a crop of juicy apples in a few months’ time. The peach rose bush blooms outside the dining room window. One day I see healthy leaves; the next day, there’s an army of greenfly attacking the whole bush. I’ll spray the undersides and tops of the leaves to control most of the infestation. I’ll repeat spraying after rain. Mam used to throw soapy water over her bushes to dislodge greenfly! Her roses always looked wonderful.

Purple honesty has reappeared in several locations around the garden; I allowed the seed to spread itself. Later, the golden ‘pennies’ will be perfect in winter floral arrangements.

Continue to plant gladioli corms to ensure colour even later in summer. Support gladioli individually with bamboo canes to prevent the flowers from toppling sideways. Delphinium and hollyhock should also be staked to help them grow straight,

Hydrangea needs lots of water as it matures. Take cuttings this month from the established shrub. Use unflowered shoots of approximately 4 inches. Remove the lower leaves and trim the base straight across with a sharp knife. Dip the cuttings in rooting powder to help growth. Several cuttings can be placed around the edge of a small pot filled with a mixture of peat and sand.

You have probably started making up hanging baskets by now. Fuchsia, snapdragon, trailing lobelia, and surfinia are among my favourites. Pots and tubs can be moved around the garden easily. Night-scented stock is a joy near the back door. Remember not to fill the pots up to the top. Allow space for watering and the spread of the plants. Golden alyssum combined with white and pink varieties will attract bees and butterflies to your garden. May can be very hot, so daily watering is essential. I am an optimist. The sun will shine for us some of the time.

Sit in the deckchair. Admire your little bit of Heaven.

Life Is Very Good Part 2

Brian Doyle op

“God saw all that he had made and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31)

In last month’s magazine, we reflected on the goodness of life and posed the question of how we should approach the upcoming referendum that will decide whether or not to retain the Eighth Amendment of our Constitution, an amendment which recognises the right to life of the unborn. This month, we will continue to address this difficult question that can even sometimes be confusing, depending on one’s personal knowledge of the issues at hand.

We will begin our discussion from a Christian perspective of those who believe in Jesus Christ, and in His inherent goodness, as this probably represents the situation of the majority of our readers. Actually, from a Christian’s point of view, the question of the morality of abortion becomes very simple when we realise that our faith teaches us that the human person exists from the moment of conception. At conception, God creates and infuses a unique soul into the embryo to create a new person, and so a human being exists from this point onwards. Scripture itself bears witness to this fact by revealing that the person of the Lord Jesus Christ begins His earthly life at the Annunciation and not at any time after that. Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth reveals that the two babies, St. John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus, are already present in the wombs of their mothers and even mysteriously active! For a Christian, then, abortion is the deliberate killing of an innocent human person, and such an action is always gravely wrong in God’s eyes, who desires every human being to grow, to flourish, and to fulfil his or her potential. Even in very difficult circumstances, the Lord always desires that we do our best to love and to nurture the innocent baby that He has committed to our care.

Some readers may ask, however, what if the mother’s life is in danger as in the tragic case of Savita Halappanavar, which was widely reported? The simple answer to that question is that it is always permissible to perform an operation to save a mother’s life, even if it means that the baby dies in the process. This is not abortion. Abortion is the intentional killing of the unborn child and is never healthcare. The necessary operation was not performed in Salvita’s case because the medical team failed to diagnose the fact that she had sepsis, not because it was not permitted under Irish abortion laws. Sadly, this case has been deliberately misrepresented in the Irish media.

Constant attempts to dehumanise the unborn child

In fact, misrepresentation lies at the heart of the pro-choice argument. In addition to the completely false notion that abortion is somehow healthcare, there is the constant attempt to dehumanise the unborn child by referring to it as a ‘foetus’ or as only ‘a bunch of cells.’ But modern scientific technology clearly shows that at 12 weeks this ‘foetus’ has a human body just like ours, i.e., a head, a torso, two arms and two legs and even its own heartbeat! Even if one does not have Christian beliefs, the question must be answered; if this is not a small developing human being then what is it? Each one of us began our life looking exactly like that!

Of course, when it comes to disabled babies in the womb, the pro-choice side can no longer argue that they are not human because they want to allow abortion right up until birth. In this case, their position is simply that these babies are not as important or lovable as ‘normal’ babies and so we should have the option of eliminating them.

Is this the type of society we want? Do we want to live in a country that considers some human lives as inconvenient or discriminates between the healthy and the vulnerable? Isn’t all human life good, very good? I think in our hearts we all know that this is true.

The Chimney Sweep’s Day

Helen Morgan

For centuries, May 1st has been known as Chinney Sweeps’ Day. It was the day on which chimney sweeps everywhere celebrated with their families. Covered from head to toe in a cage-like structure made from wickerwork and decorated with foliage, the chimney sweep would dance, twirl, jump, and cavort through the streets, looking out at the world through a small window in his cage. Accompanied by his family and an entourage of gaily dressed male and female musicians, the chimney sweep would collect gifts and money from the general public, who gave generously.

Since the invention of the fireplace, people have used coal and timber to heat their homes. This caused soot to accumulate in chimneys, which had to be regularly cleaned to prevent the flue from catching fire. Due to the narrowness of the chimney’s outlet, the chimney sweep could not access the small areas with only a short brush and a soot scraper.

Boys as young as four sent up chimneys

As far back as the 17th century, it was common practice to send small boys up chimneys to clear away soot. Working with their bare feet and hands, children as young as four were used for this purpose. Poor children and orphans were regularly sold to a Master Sweep, who took on sole responsibility for the child under his care. Homeless children were often abducted and forced to work for the chimney sweep. Many of them were beaten and poorly fed by their owners.

Starting as early as 4.00 a.m., the youngsters would work till late at night with little food in their stomachs. Many of them died from malnutrition or smoke inhalation, while others fell to their deaths. If a child was afraid to climb a chimney, the chimney sweep would light a fire in the grate, forcing the child to climb higher.

In 1863, the Chimney Sweepers Regulation Act was passed, which forbade chimney sweeps from using children in their work. If caught breaking the law, chimney sweeps faced a fine of £10, which was a great deal of money at the time. Supported by the judicial system, the police, and the general public, this Act proved successful, causing the practice of sending children up chimneys to be consigned to history.

With the invention of the telescopic chimney brushes, the job of the chimney sweep became easier. A large piece of cloth would be hung in front of a fireplace to prevent the soot from falling into a room. Despite taking precautions, having a chimney swept was still a very dirty business until the early Sixties.

Chimneys swept once a year. Most Irish housewives had their chimneys swept once a year, usually in summer. Before the chimney sweep arrived, the furniture would be pushed back as far as possible from the fireplace, and newspapers spread on the floor. When the chimney sweep had finished, there was usually a thin coating of soot everywhere, and very often the black imprint of his boots on the linoleum. Housewives would have to spend at least an hour on their knees with a scrubbing brush and a bar of carbolic soap, washing the floor and cleaning down the mantelpiece.

In the Sixties, a large machine on wheels, which worked like a vacuum cleaner, largely replaced the chimney sweep’s brushes. Now neatly dressed and driving his own van complete with his personal logo, the chimney sweep would wheel the machine into a house and in less than 30 minutes the chimney would be cleaned, leaving no mess behind.

With the installation of central heating, the need for a yearly visit from the chimney sweep became a thing of the past. Today, gas and electric coal-effect fires have largely replaced the coal fire.

Today, it is still considered a sign of future prosperity for a chimney sweep to be present at a wedding, while May 1st still remains one of the luckiest days of the year to marry.

Love

Donagh O Shea op

In the time of Jesus strict orthodox Jews wore little leather sachets (“phylacteries”) around their wrists, containing verses from Scripture. One of these verses was, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul” (Deuteronomy 11:13). To which the Scribes added, “You must love your neighbour as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). In other words, when the Scribe (in today’s gospel reading) asked, “What must I do to have eternal life?” Jesus gave him the Scribes’ own answer!

The further question was also a common one: “Who is my neighbour?” Some Rabbis restricted it to fellow Jews; others gave a somewhat wider definition. But Jesus turned the question inside out. He did not answer the question, Who is my neighbour? But a different question, who should I be a neighbour to? These two questions may seem more or less the same, but they are quite different. The first question is about other people and how they are to be classified; the second question is about myself and how I should behave towards others.

It is easier to deal with questions that only have to do with things (or people) ‘out there’. But many of the difficult things that challenge us are very much ‘in here’! Assuredly, that is why we project things onto other people. I remember a teacher long ago who used to spend the whole day telling everyone they were stupid. The explosive way he pronounced it, steuuuupit! made it sound much worse than stupid. Meeting him years later, I saw he was not a clever person. What he was doing, all those years before, was projecting onto us the stupidity he couldn’t admit in himself, and condemning it.

What you see lies within you

It’s a bit terrifying when it first strikes you clearly: what you see around you is what lies within you. “Two men look out through prison bars, one sees mud and the other stars.” Two people grow up in the same family; one remembers the good things, the other remembers nothing but bad. Two people look at a third; one sees a decent person struggling, the other sees a write-off. In the story of the Good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite pass an injured man and see only a problem to be avoided; the Samaritan (and to Jews, Samaritans were heretics) saw the same man and saw his need of help. How you see and act depends on what is inside you. Jesus looks at you and says, “You are the salt of the earth…. You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13,14). He was able to say that because he himself was the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5). He was willing to say it because he was filled with love.

The Beatitudes – the essence of the Christian way of life

Do you recall a question in the catechism, “What is commanded by the first Beatitude?” Or, “What is forbidden by the sixth Beatitude?” Or, “What else is forbidden by the third Beatitude?” No, you don’t, because there were no such questions. The catechism paid scant attention to the Beatitudes, though these are the essence of the Christian way of life. The Sermon on the Mount (in Matthew’s gospel), of which they are a part, is called ‘the Gospel within the Gospel’. Well, then, these are the Gospel within the Gospel within the Gospel! They are the heart of the matter, but we devoted all our attention to a summary of Jewish law. The Ten Commandments are that, but of course, they are also basic morality, and therefore irreplaceable. However, the world of the Beatitudes is a world beyond them. Our minds were attuned to commandment and prohibition, both of which are manageably ‘out there’, but love in practice is closer to the bone. It is about you and me.

Saint Martin Replies

Clare: St Martin, I want to thank you. I asked you a big favour. In February, I had a check-up for a tumour for which I had had treatment. I asked you to intercede with God that I would get good news and I did. I do not have to go back again for another six months. Without St Martin I would be finished. Thanks once more and please, if you can, watch over me for the rest of my days.
Kerry: This is to express my gratitude to Our Lady, St Martin, and the Holy Souls. They kept my brother and myself safe during Storm Emma and the snow. We did not have to call the emergency services or neighbours, and our home and property were not damaged. They never disappoint us.
West Midlands, England: I am writing to thank St Martin for answering my prayers over the years for my son to give up alcohol. He stopped drinking before Christmas. He also has obtained a permanent job. Two miracles thanks to the interces- sion of St Martin.
Anon: Please publish my sincere thanks to Almighty God, through the intercession of St Martin, for helping my brother who at the age of eighty-seven went through a bad time. He had a serious bowel operation and a cracked disc. He gives me the St Martin magazine every month. Thanks to St Martin for the help you give to him and all of us.
Kildare: I am writing as promised to thank St Martin for favours received over the last couple of years. Recently, my son got the job he wished for and is very happy. My granddaughter’s scan was clear. I also want to thank him for my own recover,y as I had been very anxious. Thank you, Sacred Heart, Our Lad,y and St Martin for my good health. You have never failed me. I love you.
Monaghan: I wish to express my gratitude to St Martin, St Therese and St Pio for prayers answered. My grandson has had the year that we wanted with regard to school and hopefully will go on to have a happy future. His happiness and a Christian way of life is what we pray for. His grandmother has great devotion to St Martin.
Drogheda: My dog was very ill and I decided to bring the poor thing to the Specialist Centre in U.C.D., but the news was not good, with a diagnosis of less than three weeks to live. That was last August, and my dog is still alive and quite hale and hearty due, I believe, to being touched with the St Martin relic every day.
Clare: I wish to thank St Martin for the favours he has done for me and my family. I asked him to help my son to get a job he had applied for and he was successful. Another son who wanted to buy a particular house was able to do so. My wife was involved in a car crash and came through the accident very well as a result of prayer. I love the St Martin magazine, a beautiful read at all times.
Anon: Heartfelt thanks to the Sacred Heart, Our Lady, and St Martin for the recovery of my son from drinking. He was very ill and upset. He is off drink for a few years now and has turned his life around and has attained peace of mind at last. St Martin is my rock.
Offaly: Thanks very much to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Martin for healing me of a very painful foot. I prayed to them daily.
Roscommon: I am writing to you giving thanks to St Martin, St Anthony and Our Lady for looking after my daughter when I asked for help for her. She suffers from anxiety but has now secured some work in her chosen field. I am praying that this work will continue. Thanks also for many favours over the years, health, exams, employment and good friends. Nothing is impossible through prayer to our Saints and to God.
Derry: I want to thank the Sacred Heart, Our Blessed Lady, and dear St Martin, as well as Our Mother of Perpetual Help, for all the favours myself and my family have received, too numerous to mention. Favours granted to me were miracles. I could not live my life without my strong faith, and I thank St Martin for being there for me in my time of need, answering my requests. I thank and love you, St Martin.
Anon: Dear St Martin, I come to give thanks to you, the Sacred Heart. The Blessed Virgin and all the saints for favours granted. My mother obtained good results for a medical procedure. I read and re-read all the letters in your magazine, and these give me the faith to continue praying. I pray especially for my son, who is fifteen and has no friends. He is very lonely but as a firm believer in St Marti, I am hoping he will make friends with whom he can have fun and be happy.