Christian Perspectives

Christian charity surpass all man-made barriers - Archbishop Gomis

E. Weerapperuma

The first ever Camellian Convent with a chapel and the Home for the Aged was blessed and declared open by His Lordship Most Rev.Dr. Oswald Gomis, the Archbishop of Colombo on July 14, the feast-day of St. Camillus.

His Lordship said that the Congregation of the Daughters of St. Camillus came to Sri Lanka on his request and the Nayakakanda Parish had shown the gesture of goodwill by accommodating the Sisters and helping them to purchase necessary land and construct a building for them and for the Elderly Women which will be the Home for the Aged Women folk in the diocese.

He also reminded that the Catholics could not sit with arms folded saying that we have done our part but has the duty to continue help, to carry out the good work of the Sisters. "These nuns, the Daughters of St. Camillus operate in Italy and many parts of the globe and the group of Sisters in Sri Lanka are from Kerala.

The Home for the Aged at Puwakwatta Road, Nayakakanda built on an 84 perch of land with the assistance of the donors here and overseas could provide shelter to 27 destitute and aged women at a time.

In His homily during the Eucharistic concelebration His Grace underlined what was it to practise Christian charity. For us Catholics, Christians who profess God as 'Our Father' could not serve those in need on the basis of ethnicity, caste or religion.

"We must, if we are true Catholics practising Christian virtue of loving our neighbour as we Love God Almighty, can not overlook, ignore when people come in search of help on the basis of man made divisions.

His Lordship added: "Because of our love towards our neighbour as he is our brother, our sister we are misunderstood. Take for instance the ethnic issue in our country. If we help a Tamil, we could be branded as supporters of the LTTE. The Tamils could misunderstand us when and if we help a Sinhalese who is in need. Never mind. As Jesus Christ on the Cross embraced all humanity with open arms we must love all without any distinction if we are true Catholics and Christians, for the Commandment of Love God demands that we love our neighbour.

If we fail to love our neighbour but still profess we Love God, then we are liars", His Lordship said quoting the Sacred Scripture. Rev. Fr. Gregory Jayantha Fernando, Parish Priest of St. Mary's Church, Nayakakanda said that he was happy to associate himself with the occasion as it was a dream comes true. With the ready support of the parish community Fr. Jayantha said that he was able to respond positively to a request made by the Colombo Archbishop, who would retire shortly from active service having rendered an unforgettable service to the Sri Lanka Church and the universal church.

"It is time for us to pray that God bestow His grace abundantly to this new Congregation, the 'Daughters of St. Camillus' to get more vocations from Sri Lanka and let the indigenous community of Sisters continue the good work begun by the present group of Sisters from overseas.

We have two vocations already from Nayakakanda and they are now receiving training in Rome," he added. Rev. Sister Merlyn conducted the ceremony and expressed her gratitude on behalf of the Mother Superior and the small community of Sisters headed by Rev. Sr. Elisa at the Convent.

St. Anne's Feast Hiniduma

Theja Vidyarupa, Akuressa Group Correspondent

The annual festival of the St. Anne's Church, Hiniduma will be held on August 8 and 9 for the 116th time.

All arrangements have been made by the Administrator of the Church Rev. Fr. Shelton Fernando to hold this festival on a grand scale with St. Anne's annual procession, special religious services and the feast.

St. Anne's procession will parade the streets on August 8 after evening service at the St. Anne's Church.

Second day procession is scheduled to be paraded street on August 9 at 8.00 a.m. The festival concludes with a special mass at the Lurdu Mandapa blessing country and people and the feast on August 9 noon.

All facilities are provided for the devotees attending in religious services and procession.

Festivals of Saints

Bandula NONIS

The chain of festivals honouring the Saints of the Catholic Church ends with the march to the Shrine of St. Anne who is worshipped as the grandmother of Our Lord Jesus Christ as described in the Scriptures in his days.

Although Saints are somewhat a creation in the post Biblical episode the reference to St. Anne is mentioned in the Bible who guided the maiden Mary Mother of the Saviour of mankind, and maintaining her family in the traditional Jewish faith. They had unquestionable faith in the Old Testament taught her daughter the wonders of the Scriptures and made her a worthy to become the vehicle for the Messier of the world.

The worship of St. Anne is old as the advent of the Portuguese Catholics in Sri Lanka. Although there is no reference to the Catholics worshipping Mary or Anne as Saints in our historical conicles, in the pre-Portuguese era they were suspected to be people anointed by the Holy Spirit of the Pentecostal worship and the Holy Cross as early Christians. According to the recent text published by the ex - Archbishop of Colombo Rt. Rev. Dr. Oswald Gomis there is evidence of some 80,000 Catholics living in the North - Western coastal belt and in some pockets in Anuradhagama and Sigiri sanitary in the 5th century. The reference by Prof. Paranavitane on the Anointed Buddha, or (Abhishake Buddha) is symbolic to the reference to the Anointed One, Jesus by the Holy Spirit is still a provoking thought for discussion. The Pentecostal community in the early Church renounce the fulfilment by the grace of the Holy Spirit which is still practised as a revival movement by the Pubuduwa Missionaries in some pockets of the Catholic belt.

Portuguese were navigators. They sought refuge in a powerful intercession in the metaphysical forces to navigate. It is recorded in the conicals by Portuguese writers that St. Anne has always helped in those who navigated and travelled to unknown places and saved those who crossed the sea. We find the worship of St. Anne in most of the coastal locations in the island. The Chilaw location and some South Indian sea locations are well known. In times of turbulence the statue of St. Anne have been even found hidden in giant trees in the thick jungles and later found by wood cutters. Portuguese introduced the Saints culture as a medicine to our troubles and turbulences and the shrine of St. Anne is one such popular worship.

Beruwela being an ancient navigating centre and a commercial port during the Kotte Kingdom is an old centre where the worship of St. Anne is observed. St. Anne's festivals follow in the latter part of the month of July in major centers of faith in the coastal belt. Those who suffer from illness by birth and barren women find consolation in the worship of St. Anne in these areas. Long before the faith of Mary and other Saints were introduced by the Portuguese rulers in the Kotte kingdom the Hindu Goddess Pathiniamma was in the centre stage attending to the spiritual needs of the women folk. Women struggles with daily tabulations and suffering while their husbands were at the deep sea, day and night, they experienced the worst form of poverty in the coastal areas and the only spiritual consolation is found for their grief was in the worship St. Anne.

Catholic faith of the Roman church has frown in strength and prestige while some branches of Christianity remain stagnated due to the lack of metaphysical beliefs for the followers. Belief in something has been prescribed even by Christ for man's thinking faculty. The question is why men of intelligence and wide culture hold to Catholicism into which they are born and still satisfying their spiritual needs.

Rev. Sister Hiranthi Perera AC:

The 'Singing Nun'

J. I. Rosairo

Sister Hiranthi, if I may venture to call her so, who strode the scene at Holy Cross College, Gampaha as a colossus for a stunning thirty years, first as a teacher and ending as the Vice-Principal, is bowing out gracefully towards going into a well earned retirement.

She has carved out a niche for herself at this prestigious college primarily as a teacher and an administrator par excellence, upholding discipline, law and order, decorum and self-restraint and the ever demanding silence at school, at all times. She would impress on the students what discipline really was and what was to be disciplined, now as children and for its implementation later in life as law abiding citizens.

Sister Hiranthi was the 'live wire' of the Past Pupils' Association of which she was also the patron, who tried her utmost to keep the Association alive and perhaps from disintegrating.

As a person endowed with organisational skills, Sister Hiranthi would arrange periodical get-to-gethers, picnics, musical shows and even dinner dances, with the sole purpose of reminding the past pupils that they were still an integral part and parcel of their Alma Mater and that they owe her for what she gave them then and for what they are today, many of them in high strata of society.

All the proceeds that she was able to muster from those projects, were solely and purely set aside for the development of the College, whether it be for a library, a computer department or something else that the school was in need of.

Being a past pupil herself, she had that inseparable attachment towards Holy Cross which she continued to nurture towards the end. Sister Hiranthi is indeed a loveable person, 'down to earth' so to say, carrying about with her simplicity, not much concerned about formalities, but that she be looked upon just as a mere human being. Very active and energetic at all times, she made use of her God given exhilarating soprano voice deep and penetrating to lead the singing, be it at religious services or at general assemblies, week after week. Her single deep throated, vibrant voice would comfortably drown a whole combination of voices.

Her retirement, though legal, in terms of the age limit set and reached, is being looked upon as something premature, because still bubbling with life, Sister Hiranthi could still make tremendous contributions to the college for many more years to come.

Sister Hiranthi was accorded a magnificent farewell by both teachers and students of the College, culminating with a fellowship lunch which was attended to by present and past teachers, past pupils, well-wishers as well as the admirers of that loveable human being - Sister Hiranthi.

May she find peace and tranquillity in her well earned retirement, not forgetting those who have loved her then and now.

Religious leaders move to halt swine flu

Do not shake hands, stop sharing communion wine during services and ban holy water from blessings and baptisms.

These are some of the directives issued by Britain's religious leaders in recent days, following similar moves in other badly-affected countries to halt the spread of swine flu among their congregations.

"People must understand that it's something that can be dealt with, that there's no need to panic," Rabbi Helen Freeman from the West London synagogue told AFP.

Britain is the country hardest hit by the A(H1N1) virus in Europe with at least 30 deaths. Swine flu infected some 100,000 people in Britain last week, nearly double the figure from the week before.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams - the head of the Anglican Church - and Archbishop of York John Sentamu last week recommended priests stop congregations sipping from the same chalice until the pandemic has passed.

According to tradition, during Holy Communion or the Eucharist, the chalice is offered to the faithful who, along with the priest, take a sip of wine before passing the cup on to their neighbour.

The archbishops suggest pastors dip the communion wafer into the wine and put it into the hands, rather than the mouths of the faithful as a hygienic alternative, a technique widely used by the Anglican Church in Africa.

The Reverend John Gladwin, the Bishop of Chelmsford, sent a series of guidelines to priests in his diocese of Essex in mid-July, advising against putting holy water into stoups, or fonts for holy water. "The water in stoups can easily become a source of infection and a means of rapidly spreading the virus," he said. "This practice should be suspended".

In the diocese of Southwark in London, parishioners are invited to hug rather than shake hands with each other, during the "sign of peace", which traditionally marks the end of communion, to minimise physical contact.

The Catholic Church in England and Wales pointed out that "there is no need yet to suspend mass, stop the sign of peace, withdraw communion under both kinds or take any kind of special measures."

But "if the local situation warrants certain liturgical changes to help lessen the risk of spreading the virus the decision will rest with the local bishop," said a spokesman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.

In west London, Freeman's synagogue has launched an appeal for volunteers - or "flu friends" - to care for those people who already have it, and have to be isolated.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said basic hygiene rules were "an inherent part of Islamic teaching", but urged imams to underline the need for care at Friday prayers and in Madrassas, or religious schools. The MCB has also urged those making the pilgrimage to Mecca to ensure they take "good personal hygiene measures, including cough etiquette, use of antiseptic hand gels and frequent hand washing with soap and water". - LONDON, AFP

WEEKLY DEVOTIONS:

You are refuge from the storm

But to the poor O Lord, you are a refuge from the storm. To the needy in distress, you are a shelter from the rain and the heat.

Isaiah 25 : 4,5.

Take heart poor man, the Lord of Israel's promise to you is so comforting. He promises to act as a refuge and a shelter from the rain as well as heat. Do you realize how fortunate you are? It is no sin nor shame to be poor as the Lord Himself has offered to be your refuge and shelter. Oh what privilege is yours! And yet you long to be rich and run after materialism. In doing this you are throwing away the divine comfort and protection that is yours and you long after the worthless riches that the world has to offer.

Stop, and think you who are poor. There is a blessing from the hand of the Lord that is open to you and you alone - in this very state you are in, you can shine - if only you get your priorities right. You can rise up spiritually and obtain the Lord's blessings which are far above anything that the world or its riches can proffer.

So, do not go after the wind but rise up within yourself and obtain the wealth that is yours and yours alone - which is so far fetched for the rich.

Listen to what the Lord Jesus said to the rich man in Matt. 19 : 16-25.

Verse 25 says :-

Then Jesus said to his disciples - "I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to get into the Kingdom of Heaven - I say it again - it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God."

So, why do you long to be rich - at the end of it you are going to struggle to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven - these are Jesus' very words. Do not take them lightly.

Do not throw away eternal values to obtain the meager pittance that the world offers you. Esau sold his birth right for a morsel of food, no amount of crying could win him back what he threw away!

It is a privilege to be poor, and have God's shelter and protection - you have all what it takes to enter the Kingdom of Heaven - grab it and take hold of it with both your hands- no amount of riches can satisfy as being fed by Jesus, the Bread of Heaven Himself.

Prayer :

Lord Jesus Christ, now I see how privileged I am in being poor as I have your comfort and protection my Lord. Help me to follow you closely and find richness in knowing you. Keep me protected from longing to be rich and following worthless wealth that does not have eternal values. Thank you once again for the comfort and shelter you offer a poor person. Amen.

SUNITHA Sahayam