Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30: Anne Curran, (Anniv).
11.00: Larry Carter, Long Walk, (Anniv).
6.30: Mario Ward, (Anniv).

As I Was Saying...

Almost 20 years ago now, an imperial army landed in Dublin. They were here at the invitation of a great Leinster chief, Charles J. Haughey. It was the first such incursion since the Normans, who also also arrived on foot of the invitation of another great Leinster leader, Diarmuid MacMurrough.

Admittedly the soldiers who arrived here 20 years ago were over two thousand years old and made of mud, but an army they are, nevertheless.

The Terracotta Army of the First Emperor of China are now on their way to London for a major exhibition at the British Museum. The soldiers, which are life-sized, were created around 220 BC and are truly some of the wonders of the world.

In 1974, when digging a well, a local farmer fell right through and found that he had unwittingly joined the ranks of the Emperor's Warriors, literally! Numbering 7,000 (now 7,001), the faces of the individual warriors all have different expressions. There are four main categories of figures: chariot warriors, infantrymen, cavalrymen, and horses. It was the most important archaeological find of the 20th century.

However, the story of their creation was not as uplifting as the story of their discovery. More than one and a half million people died as a result of the Emperor's megalomania. His actual army, of over a million soldiers, terrorised the ordinary people, and each night the soldiers and farmers lest they be used to overthrow the regime.

But despite the strength of his armies he was terrified of one thing that they could not protect him against: Death. His fear was that all those whom he had killed might come back to drag him into the Underworld and that their angry spirits might topple his new regime which he declared would last a Thousand Years.

So he built his tomb and surrounded it with a spirit army - the terracotta warriors - to protect him against the evil spirits created by his cruelty. To ensure they could do the job, he had them armed with real weapons of incredible sophistication and technological skill.

Two years after his death, the people rose in revolt. Unable to use their own tools, locked away by the soldiers, they broke into the tomb, stole the weapons designed to protect the Emperor from the dead and used them to overthrow his son. The Thousand Years had lasted exactly thirteen! It is one of the most astonishing examples of hubris imaginable.

At least five hundred years before the First Emperor, the writer of the Book of Proverbs in the Bible understood all this.

Those who oppress the poor show contempt for their Creator,
But whoever is kind to the needy honours God.
The wicked are overthrown by their own malice,
While the virtuous find shelter in their integrity.

Is Robert Mugabe listening?

-Dick Lyng

Items of Some Interest

Archbishop sees Stars!

Madam,- I was brought up in an Ireland steeped in religious nonsense and fears. Religion was drummed into us at school by the same priests and nuns who have cruelly and systematically destroyed many innocent children's lives.

Studying astrology in later years not only saved me from a past filled with meaningless brainwashing, but helped me take responsibility for my own choices in life.

There are many serious astrologers among us who are not "quasi-supernatural salespeople". We wish only to help others move forward in their lives, and not remain stuck in the dark ages.

- Yours, etc,
-ANN C. RYAN, Astrologer, Rathmines Road, Dublin 6.

Madam,- Letter-writers are tripping over each other in their zeal to demonstrate that, at best, religion makes no more sense than astrology. The problem is that their description of Christianity is a description of a distortion of Christianity (burning heretics, imprisoning Galileo, and so on).

True Christianity, as promulgated by the mainline churches, is a philosophy of love, forgiveness, pacifism, moderation, self-responsibility, modesty, charity, courage and honest endeavour - a recipe for successful living that civilised people aspire to, even those who cannot accept the divinity of Jesus Christ. Innumerable people benefit from living true Christian lives.

It is true that the mainline Christian church has often failed to live up to these professed ideals, but you cannot blame the teachings of Christ for this any more than you can blame pure water for becoming contaminated when it is poured into a rusty container. The container is the problem, not the water.

On the other hand, astrology offers no philosophy of living. At best it is harmless fun, but only if you don't take it seriously. It could lead you very astray if you took it seriously. In contrast, taking true Christianity seriously yields only benefits.

- Yours, etc,
-WILLIAM J. REVILLE, (Scientist) Waterfall, Cork.

(From Letters, Page, The Irish Times, August 30th, 2007.)

What I found in my Desk

A ripe peach with an ugly bruise,
a pair of stinky tennis shoes,
a day-old ham-and-cheese on rye,
a swimsuit that I left to dry,
a pencil that glows in the dark,
some bubble gum found in the park,
a paper bag with cookie crumbs,
an old kazoo that barely hums,
a spelling test I almost failed,
a letter that I should have mailed,
and one more thing, I must confess,
a note from teacher: Clean This Mess!!!!

-Bruce Lansky.

Valid HTML 4.01 Strict