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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, April 15, 1965
The Southern Cross
P. 0„ Box 180, Savannah, Ga.
Most Rev. Thomas J. McDonough, D.D.J.C.D., President
Rev. Francis J. Donohue, Editor j 0 hn E. Markwalter, Managing Editor
Phone 234-4574
Second Class Postage Paid at Waynesboro, Ga.
Send Change of Address to P. O. Box 180, Savannah, Ga.
Published weekly except the second and last weeks
in June, July and August and the last week in December.
Subscription price $5.00 per year.
BISHOP’S OFFICE
225 Abercorn Street
Savannah, Georgia
My Dear People:
The joy of Easter gives pur
pose to our Catholic way of
life. Any act of sacrifice prac
ticed during the holy season
of Lent is fittingly repaid when
we behold Christ, Our Savior,
issued forth from the tomb.
The Resurrection of Christ
from the dead proclaims un
equivocally that our faith is
not in vain.
Unfortunately, too many are
being infected with the spe
cious influences of materialism
and secularism, which are so
rampant in society today.
These two ills of the world
breed an indifference towards
God and disrespect for our
fellowman. Yet we know,
through our priceless gift of
faith, that our daily trust must
be in God.
Easter and the Resurrection
tell us poignantly how depen
dent we are upon our Omni
potent Creator. Our faith then
must be strong and our grati
tude without end. For you and
for me the lesson of the Resur
rection must become more
meaningful year after year.
The lesson of the Cross is
the love of God for all man
kind. Can we do anything less
than to love God above all
things and our neighbors as
ourselves for the love of God?
On Easter Sunday our annual
Catholic Charities collection
will be taken up in every parish
and mission church.
We urgently need your fi
nancial assistance in order to
give adequate care for the boys
of this Diocese who reside at
Saint Joseph’s Orphanage in
Washington, Georgia.
In your charity we request
that you use the envelopes which
have been prepared for this
special collection. It is sug
gested that every wage-earner
contribute at least ten dollars.
As you have already done in
the past, I am confident that
your love of God on Easter
Sunday will be shown in a very
special way by your love of
these children who depend upon
you and me to help them.
Assuring you of a special
remembrance in my Mass on
Easter Day, and begging Our
Risen Savior to bless you and
your loved ones abundantly, I
am,
Devotedly yours in Christ,
Bishop Of Savannah
THINK OF HEAVEN AND SMILE!
God’s World
A certain gentleman with whom I am ac
quainted does not believe in a life after death.
He believes that when we die, we die like any
other animal, completely.
One might expect this man to be of a gloomy
disposition, convinced as he is
that death will mean a return to
nothingless, an absolute and per
manent blackout. Either that, or
we might expect him to be a com
plete hedonist, trying to wring
from life every possible pleasure
before the end comes.
However, the man is neither
morbid nor a sensualist. He is a quite normal
sort of person—a good husband, father and
citizen. He has a pleasant disposition andagood
sense of humor. No one could suspect, from
observing him, that this man is entirely lacking
in religious faith.
Actually, his outward normality is not ex
ceptional. There are many people who, if they
are not outright disbelievers, at least have no
positive religious convictions and no solid ex
pectation of a life after death. Yet it would be
pretty difficult to pick such persons out of the
general population.
We believe that death is not the end of every
thing. We believe that there awaits us after
death an everlasting life of indescribable happi
ness. With such a future in store for us, we
Christians should be an exceptionally joyous
people. We know by experience how an antici
pated pleasure, perhaps a party next week at
which we are to be the guest of honor, can buoy
us up and make the intervening days rosy. Then
surely the prospect of heaven, a bliss to tremen
dous and so lasting, should create in us a
gaiety of heart that no evil of this life can ex
tinguish. Unfortunately, this is not generally
so.
Perhaps we are doubtful as to whether heaven
does lie in our own particular future. But how can
we doubt, when Jesus Christ has put this ecstatic
and eternal life within the reach of all of us?
When Jesus rose from the dead, we all rose
from the dead. When Jesus entered heaven, we
all potentially entered heaven.
All that is necessary is that we be incor
porated in Jesus (as we are by baptism) so that,
with Him, we can make a response of love to the
Father’s love. All that is necessary is that we
seek, however weakly and imperfectly, to make
God’s will our own. Having done this, we already
are in heaven, except for the formality of having
that grim usher, Death, draw back the curtain
for us.
There, for many of us, is the rub. We are
afraid of death, or at least we are afraid of the
physical pain which so often precedes death.
This fear is so deep and elemental that not
many of us can hope to overcome it entirely.
However, the fearsomeness of death decreases
in direct proportion to our. awareness of the
delirious joy that lies beyond death, and our
conviction that heaven (assuming ordinary good
will) is ours for sure.
What we must bring home to ourselves is
that our happiness in heaven will be according
to our human nature. It will be a supernatural
happiness, yes; a happiness which we could not
absorb if God did not raise us to His level of
being. But it still will be the happiness of a hu
man person, a being composed of body and soul.
It will not be the purely “spiritual” happiness
of an angel. The things that make us happy
here (especially loving and being loved) will make
us happy in heaven, too; except that there they
will be magnified to the N’th degree.
A good prayer for Easter might be, “Dear
Jesus, help me to understand better the meaning
of heaven. Help me to realize how madly yet how
humanly happy I shall be.”
THE DEATH OF CHRIST
It Seems To Me
JOSEPH BREIG
I find that the ecumenical coun
cil, along with centering my mind
on the Scriptures, is making me
sensitively — indeed hurtingly—
conscious of the bottomless my
steriousness that is hidden in the
heart of salvation history.
So awe-inspiring, so freighted
with measureless wisdom, are
both the speakings
and the silences of
God that the Bible
|U J must be approached
fr-1 with a huf = e humility
J / which wishes only to
listen and be taught.
There can hardly
be any deadlier spir
itual error than that of search
ing the Scriptures, even subcon
sciously, for confirmation of
one’s opinions, or comfort in
one’s smallness and prejudice.
IN THE CLIMATE of this in
sight, I am overwhelmed with a
feeling of earth-shaking irony
when I hear arguments or specu
lation about the guilt of the Jews
--or of anybody—in the cruci
fixion.
Not only do I keep remember
ing Christ’s warnings that we are
not to judge lest we be judged.
There is also the profounder
consideration that when we talk
about Good Friday, we are talk
ing about the most stunningly
mysterious of all the mysteries
of God’s purposes in making man.
To express this even vaguely
is maddeningly difficult but let
us try.
WHEN WE TALK about Good
Friday, we are talking about Life
Itself insisting upon dying.
We are talking about the Cre
ator of all things embracing mor
tal suffering at the hands of crea
tures He brought into existence,
and whom He loves so bound
lessly that after having made
Himself one of them, and one
with them, He holds them in
existence and in His forgive
ness while they torture and slay
Him.
We are talking, quite simply
and shockingly, about the freely
chosen—indeed the unalterably
willed—suffering and death, in
the human nature He had taken
up, of God who in His divine,
nature is utterly untouchable. I
I DO NOT SEE how it is pos
sible to believe this, and think
about it, without feeling like
weeping—and yet like shouting
the glory of God. It drew from
Chesterton perhaps his noblest
poetic line when he exclaimed
that what we see on Calvary is
“God beyond God, and greater
than His Name.”
God beyond God, greater than
His Name—why? Because in di
vine goodness He forever sacri
fices (even as he forever pos
sesses) all that being God is—
all save the goodness, the infinite
goodness.
Agony and death—which seem
to us the terrible antitheses of
eternal divine life and bliss—
were not necessary to the re
deeming of man by the God-Man.
He chose them. He reacted stern
ly—even angrily—against every
attempt to dissuade Him, even
the attempt of His beloved, good-
hearted Peter. And so Christ
went to Calvary and died.
IN THE PRESENCE of this al
most unthinkable thing, this naked
baring of the very heart of divine
holiness, what can any Christian
do, save bow his face to the earth
in wordless adoration?
Unhappily, we know the sham
ing answer to that. Our capa
city for folly and meanness seems
almost limitless. In the presence
of this fearful and wonderful
Good Friday mystery, we can
babble imbecilities about who is
to blame.
Instead of learning love from
Christ’s love, and humility from
His self-humbling, we can react
with infantile pride and hatred.
And so the ecumenical council
finds it necessary to warn us
never to attribute Calvary to the
Jews. How small-souled we have
been, to need to be told!
COLLEGE ML ENOlJGH?
Capital Report
WASHINGTON—At a time when
the nation is striving to expand
and improve education at the
elementary and secondary levels,
testimony is accumulating here
that soon a college education will
not be enough to see an active
man or woman through life.
Education will have to become
a near life-long process in this
country, if we are to avoid a
great deal of “human obsoles
cence,” it has been asserted, and
an impressive number of capable
authorities already are active in
pushing continuing education.
Within an area of a few down
town blocks in Washington are a
half-dozen institutions for ad
vanced and continuing study, in-
cluding centers maintained by
Johns Hopkins, Georgetown and
Pittsburgh universities. There
are other such agencies in other
parts of the city. One center in
what has been called downtown’s
“egghead row,” is the famed
Brookings Institution, whose
president, Dr. Robert C. Caul-
kins, has said “a man can no
longer operate on what he learn
ed in college.”
Once a man trained to adapt
himself to fairly fixed conditions.
Now, changes come so swiftly
that man must be taught constant
ly to accommodate to new con
ditions. Ideas and innovations
which once took centuries to
spread over a small part of
the globe, today go round the
earth in months. To be topflight
in his line today, one must strive
constantly to keep abreast of
trends, not only in the pure
sciences, but also in govern
ment, economics, politics, so
ciology, and numerous other sub
jects.
The average citizen is con
stantly called upon to use more
and more highly complicated
technological developments in the
home. Every day, some of his
decisions and manipulations
could be vital.
Men spend long years pre
paring for jobs which suddenly
become obsolete. At the same
time, man needs greater scien
tific and technological knowledge
to make decisions in the political,
economic and related fields.
Increased knowledge and
understanding is necessary for
philosophical adjustment to the
world. To the extent that it is
lacking, it is argued, the world
could seem more alien and hos
tile.
It has been estimated that 25
million American adults have
some involvement with educa
tional activities, but that only
3.5 million fit into the general
education category. The majority
take some “pragmatic” courses
related to their jobs or hobbies.
There is much of a do-it-your
self nature in the adult education
field. But, an increase in inde
pendent study is noted by some
authorities. The field is so broad
and varied, these authorities say,
that it offers hope for more
serious educational pursuits.
CABBAGES AND KINGS
Rev. William V. Coleman 1
On Easter
There is an attitude among some Catholics
which heaps scorn upon the bright colored hats
of Easter, the little bunnies and their improbable
eggs, the Easter parade and all the trimmings
which make Easter memorable. These fellows
shake their heads and see paganism everywhere.
To my mind, it would be a sad world, in
deed, which could not afford to imitate the splen
dor of nature’s coming-out party, Spring. A poet
could, I’m sure, see the hand of
God decorating His world with
every sign of new life, joy, and
happiness, at the beginning of
Christ’s new life. Religious feel
ings aside, it is good to have a day
when men and women give in to
the gentle joy of Spring.
For some, this is all that
Easter can ever be for they, sadly, have not
the gift of Faith. We share their joy. We greet
them on their own level, but within ourselves
there is a level of happiness higher still, richer
beyond compare, more genuine, more lively and
infinitely more delightful to the soul. For us,
Easter is a reminder that, like Christ, we will
soon rise from the death of toil, trouble and sin
which surrounds us.
The most Christian virtue is hope. Others have
had charity. Some have a kind of faith, but it is
hope which makes us what we are. A cursory
reading of Saint Paul’s epistles shows us this.
Everywhere he is filled with the joyous anticipa
tion of our own resurrection, of Christ’scorning
to lift us up from the drab reality of our lives.
To too many Catholics, their religion is a dull
list of do’s and don’ts, a wearily memorized
definition of the Church, the sacraments and the
obligations of their state in life. To too many of
us, religion has a way of becoming a kind of
spiritual mill stone which God has seen fit to
fasten to our necks.
“Look homeward, angel.” God is the god of
joy. It is He who mingled the colors of the
rainbow, He who taught the birds to sing, He who
painted the glowing sunset and the first blush of
Spring, He who loved men so much He gladly
offered His life for them, He who rose not at
sunset but at dawn, radiant with the joy of vic
tory, resplendent with the happiness of saving us.
This is the Christ who comes to us in Holy
Communion, the risen Christ. This is the joyous
leader who guides us on toward a wondrous land
of endless happiness and untrammelled joy. What
in the world should make us sad, when we shall
be in the world for such a tiny bit of time.
“Rejoice and again, I say, rejoice for the
Lord is near.”
QUESTIONS
Our F aith
M'sgr. Conway
Q . What was the hourly order of events in
Christ’s Passion beginning on Holy Thursday
and concluding with His Death on Good Friday?
A. You ask the impossible. The Gospels
do not tell us the exact hour of the events of
the Passion; and we have no precise way of
learning them. Presuming that the Last Supper
of Jesus with his Apostles was a Paschal meal —
even though anticipated by a day — it would
hardly have begun, according to
t Jewish custom, before night-fall.
We may presume then that it
began about 7 p.m. How long
did it last? There was the wash
ing of the feet, the institution of
the Eucharist, the interlude with
Judas, and a long, intimate final
talk by Jesus. We might guess
that the supper was over about
10 p.m. (Two a.m. was the latest hour which
custom permitted for its end.)
The walk to the garden of Gethsemane was
probably leisurely and took at least a half
hour. We do not know how long Jesus spent in
His prayer and agony — probably two or three
hours. It must have been well past midnight
when Judas came with the soldiers. The trip
back across the Kedron and up the hill to the
city, and then to the home of Annas must have
taken a good half hour. It seems that Annas
did not keep Jesus very long, but sent him off
to his son-in-law, the high priest, Caiphas. I
am guessing that it may have been three o’clock
in the morning when He arrived there. Prob
ably some time was wasted while prominent
priests, doctors of the law, and leaders as
sembled. Then a preliminary hearing was held.
We may imagine that this lasted until the aurora.
Then word went out to the members of the San
hedrin that they should assemble for an early
morning trial. This was the day of preparation
for the Passover. Dirty business had to be done
early.
I would guess that it was 9 a.m. by the time
Jesus was taken to Pilate. By 9:15 He had been
sent to Herod, who took little time with Him.
By 9:45 He was back before Pilate. About
10:30 He was sent to be scourged. By 11:15 He
was back before Pilate for condemnation. Ten
minutes later He was on His way to Calvary.
Maybe 10 minutes before noon they nailed Him
to the Cross. By 3 p.m. He was dead; by 4 o’
clock permission had been obtained for His
burial; and the stone was rolled in front of the
tomb just before the sun went down.