Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8 — The Southern Cross, December 7,1972
[ DCCW Notes
REV. JOHN CUDDY, PASTOR,
ST. JAMES’ CHURCH, SAVANNAH
(Guest Columnist)
I’m glad my parents named me John
when I was born many years ago. I have
always enjoyed bearing the same name
as that man who stood beneath the
cross of Jesus and heard his dying friend
say “Here is your mother.” And the
same St. John wrote how he “from that
time took her to live in his home.”
(John 19: 27) What a moving sign of
friendship; on one side, to hand over His
mother to His friend; on the other, to
accept His friend’s mother as his own
mother.
In a way, as a priest, I have felt called
like St. John to care for the Lord’s
mother. That’s a rather odd way to put
it, I suppose, since really she takes care
of me. Still, I do try to take care of her
as well. I’ll show you how.
It hurts a mother when her children
ignore her. She loves them. She looks
for them to love her in return. Now
Mary, as the Lord’s mother, is not only
the mother of our closest friend, Jesus;
she is, I believe firmly, the spiritual
mother of each person who has been
baptized. In Baptism, Jesus becomes our
borther. His mother then becomes our
mother, too, just as His Father becomes
Our Father.
But have you ever thought of how
many Christians never speak to their
Mother Mary in prayer? Catholics,
Orthodox, and many Episcopalians do
bring her into the conversation when
they speak to her Son, but most
Protestants never do. They really don’t
know they CAN talk to her. No one has
told them.
All Christians, of course, know about
the power of prayer. In His own
wonderful way the Lord blesses our
friends in this world when we pray for
them, even when they don’t know we’re
praying for them. This part of Christ’s
message has come down safely through
the centuries to all of us.
But one of the sad effects of the
Reformation was that many Christians
lost their awareness of the Communion
of Saints. They no longer were taught
that those who go ahead of us into the
spirit-world continue to pray for us
before God’s throne. They no longer
believed that the saints could and would
help us by their prayers for us.
Somehow they could no longer grasp
the bond of love between those of us
still on the earth and those of us already
in heaven, a bond in Christ that not
even death could break, a bond that
expressed itself in our prayer for one
another.
One of my most enjoyable missions
as a priest has been to talk about Mary
to Christians who don’t know how
much Mary can and should mean to
them personally. Sometimes what I say
falls on deaf ears, but most of the time I
find that a person who truly loves Jesus
grasps quickly how he should love the
Lord’s mother the way the Lord loved
her. And he can see how love leads to
self-expression, to a desire to
communicate, to speak. It then seems So
natural to say hello to Mary when he
speaks to her Son. And she likes that!
A young Army lieutenant over in
Columbus showed me how much she
likes it. He was preparing to become a
Catholic and I had asked him if he had
ever spoken to Mary in prayer. His
answer was overwhelming. He told me
how, as he was leaving for Korea, his
wife, a Catholic, had asked him to call
on Mary for help if he ever found
himself in a crisis. He had humored her
by agreeing. Then it happened. He was
faced with the worst crisis in his life. His
orders called for him to lead his men
down a road to seize a Chinese
machine-gun nest.
The road was flanked by a mine field
and by a hill from which Chinese
mortars were lobbing shells constantly
onto the road. When he sensed the
mission was plainly suicidal, he told me
he remembered his wife’s advice and he
asked Mary - awkwardly, he admitted,
because he had never spoken to her
before -- for help. He said he asked that
no one in his outfit be killed.
After he prayed, he called back to his
superior to see if the order to advance
could be rescinded. Just as he got a
negative response over his walkie-talkie,
he heard the whistle of a mortar shell as
it landed next to his boot. He waited,
stunned, for the explosion and death.
Neither came. The shell just wouldn’t
explode.
Well, he told me how he and his men
finally crawled down the road, captured
the machine gun position and silenced
the mortars. No one was killed even
though several men, of course, were
badly wounded. But the strangest
phenomenon of all was that when he
and his aide searched the cleared road
afterwards, they found only one shell
that had not exploded - the one that
had landed next to his boot. A miracle?
He thought so.
At any rate, I had begun by trying to
help him understand Mary’s role in our
lives. When he finished his story, he had
taught me quite a bit about Mary
himself.
I’m glad the Lord Jesus gave us His
Mother to be our Mother. Just as she
joined the Apostles in prayer in the
Upper room in Jerusalem as they waited
for Pentecost, so she joins us, praying
with us and for us constantly!
MASON
INC.
Printing
Office Supplies
Office Furniture
Duplicating
Machines and
Supplies
AD 24192
18-20 W. BRYAN ST.
REBUILT MOTORS
AUTOMATIC
TRANSMISSIONS
NO MONEY DOWN
Central Motors
GARAGE MACHINE
SHOP
410-510 W.31St.
236-5707 Savannah
Southern
Cross
Ads
Bring
Results
Cross Patch, Lift The Latch; Sit By The Fire & Spin;
Take A Cup & Drink It lip, Then Call Your Neighbor In....
Home Spun Things For Christmas At GRANNY TAUGHT US HOW
We can’t
make you save.
But we can
make it easier
if you do.
Liberty National Bank
Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
“A-0 K” SAYS AL ORSINI (left) along with Frank Finocchiaro (center) and Dedi
Mathews (right) who will be selling White Pine Christmas Trees for the Savannah
Italian Club. After 18 years and 25,000 Yule-tide trees the Italian Club last year was
the first to put a Georgia grown Christmas Tree on sale in Savannah.
Shepherds in the Wings
BY WAYLAND BROWN
Theological College, Washington, D.C.
ADVENT: FORGIVENESS I.
Those who know me know that I am
always getting myself into messes of one
sort or another. It sometimes seems that
the consequences of one innocent act
multiply to such an unexpected degree
that I think I will never get out of the
situation. You have probably felt this
way yourself. Father Michael Smith told
in the Southern Cross (Nov. 9, 1972)
how he got into all kinds of trouble
after one innocent remark on a bus. A
lady I know tried to help an injured
child only to become involved in a very
harrowing lawsuit which could have
ruined her outlook on life (as well as her
finances).
On a larger scale we are experiencing
now the consequences of a century and
a half of enslavement of our black
brothers and sisters in the United States,
and we will probably find that no quick
and simple solution will be forthcoming
to the problems of years of injustice. It
seems as though there is no release at all
from the consequences of what we have
done, that our sins hang over our heads:
like the sword of Damocles, ready to
fall, if not on us then on our children or
their children.
The sin of Adam rests heavily on the
world, and we are tempted to give up in
despair of ever erasing the past. It just
seems as though we are caught in a
terrible trap of our own making.
We need forgiveness.
The very discoverer of the
salvation-bearing role of forgiveness in
human affairs was Jesus of Nazareth,
Our Lord. Forgiveness alone has the
power to erase the evil of the past and
to free us from the terrible
consequences of what we say and do.
Before Jesus, forgiveness was unknown
as being able to redeem. The only hint
of it appeared in the right of the Roman
head of state to commute the death
sentence, a right which our governors
and President possess.
Jesus introduced the notion that not
only God may forgive but that “the Son
of Man has authority on earth to forgive
sins.” (Luke 5; 21-24) Even more than
His miracles it is His insistence on the
power to forgive that shocks people:
“The other guests began to ask among
themselves, ‘Who is this that He even
forgives sins?’ ” (Luke 7; 48-50)
Forgiveness is the direct opposite of
revenge; forgiveness renews our life
rather than extends our bondage to
our past shortcomings. Without it, our lot
seems hopeless; with it, we have the
promise of salvation.
In the cycle of the Church’s year, the
Lord Jesus will come to us again in a
special way on Christmas, just as he
comes to us each day in His Blessed
Sacrament. We look to his coming for
forgiveness and salvation. Maranatha!
Come, Lord!
*)(€ t&e ‘yo&ct ole cieufO
Tfou cAoftftect youi ocvtt!
"How- Z>0 *}t
ea&cf, w-cuf at SoaowgA'o
Italian Club Lot
Bee Road & Victory Drive
“QUALITY CHRISTMAS TREES”
Firs From British Columbia
Treated Scotch Pines
GEORGIA GROWN WHITE PINES
PRODUCT OF UNION CAMP
'pinetf
SdccUoK
_ - - S
A round TheDiocese
/
Obituaries
* Mrs. Nell O’Halloran of Columbus, November 23rd
* Mr. Henry Brown formerly of Savannah, November 28th
* Mr. Thomas Edward of Augusta, November 29th
* Mrs. Edith Smith Young of St. Simons Island, December 1st
Marriages
* Miss Mary Catherine Cullum and Mr. William Lee Belford, both of Savannah,
Ga., December 3 in the Church of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Savannah.
Necrology
* Rev. Richard John O’Brien, December 12,1894
* Rev. Denis Begley, December 13,1968
Augusta Nun Appointed
Recently Sister Mary Maurice, C.S.J. of St. Joseph Hospital, Augusta, was appointed
to the Board of Directors of the Georgia Society of Hospital Pharmacists to represent
the 10th. District of Georgia. Sister will attend the meeting of the Board scheduled for
early December in Savannah.
Savannah Theresians
THE THERESIANS OF SAVANNAH are planning their annual Vocation Mass and
covered-dish dinner. The main celebrant for the December liturgy is Bishop Gerard
Frey, who for several years served as National Episcopal Advisor for the Theresians of
America. Both events will be held Dec. 14 at St. Benedict’s parish Hall. Special prayers
for Religious Vocation is one of the objectives of the Theresians who meet once a
month to join in prayer for this intention.
THERESIANS OF SAVANNAH. Front Row - left to right - Mrs. Genevieve Werner,
Miss Jackie Werner, Mrs. Lucy Dough, Mrs. Marne Singleton, President, Mrs. Veronica
Arnold, Mrs. Emma Lindsey, Miss Helen Ramsey. Second Row - Sr. M. Charlene,
Moderator, Sr. M. Brigid, Miss Janie Cummings (Augusta), Mrs. Margaret Oliver, Mrs.
Ann Powers, Mrs. Julie Paige, Mrs. Susan McLean, Mrs. Marie Claire O’Leary, Mrs.
Josie Campbell, Mrs. Kit McLaughlin, Mrs. Mary Filson, Mrs. Sara Lloyd. Missing - Mrs.
Amy Dickey, Mrs. Julie Lingenfelser, Mrs. Ann White, Mrs. J. Hutton.
THE COOK’S
NOOK
HOLIDAY RECIPES
ANGEL PIE
(So appropriate for the season)
Ingredients:
3 egg whites
3 A cup sugar
3 A teaspoon almond extract
12 crushed saltines
12 dates cut up
1 cup chopped pecans
Make a stiff meringue of egg whites, sugar and almond extract. Fold in crushed
saltines, dates and pecans. Pour into pie pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for about
25-30 minutes. Cool. Cover with whipped cream or ice cream. This is really delicious if
the ice cream is flavored with rum extract!
(Chef Unknown)
BROILED OYSTERS AND CHICKEN LIVERS
Ingredients:
1 pint oysters
Vfc lb. chicken livers
1 stick butter
salt & pepper to taste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
X A cup madeira
small amount of flour and garlic salt
Drain and dust oysters and chicken livers lightly in seasoned flour. Broil until done.
Now, combine butter, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
and l A cup madeira. Mix sauce well and pour over oysters and chicken livers. Serve very
hot.
(This recipe was sent to me by a chef m Florida)
Please hurry each of you readers and send your holiday recipes to the Cook’s Nook
care of the Southern Cross, Box 232, Waynesboro, Georgia. From now through
Epiphany recipes appropriate for the season will be featured.
By the way, the 1 ne for Easy Beef Stew sent in by Mrs. Harriss D’Antignae has
met with enormous j: larity!