Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30: (Vigil): Tom, Mary, Tommy & Michael Folan, (Anniv).
11.00: Mary Drinan, (Anniv).

As I Was Saying...

The pharmacists' strike is settled, at least for the time being. Just as well, because that strike caused deep anxiety among a large group of very vulnerable people. I have no interest here in apportioning blame. My only interest is in stressing the powerlessness of the old, the sick and the depressed who became fall-guys in a power struggle not their own.

The exposure of weak and innocent people in such a callous manner was a terrible injustice that should never be repeated. It brings to mind a line from Anthony Powell's novel, Temporary Kings: "Growing old is like being increasingly penalised for a crime you haven't committed!" The entire debacle brought the plight of the old, the sick and the depressed under the spotlight.

Age Action, the lobby group for the elderly, spoke for many when they stated: "It is not acceptable that older people should face such stress and hardship to get their medication. Travelling long distances and having to queue for hours is difficult for anyone, but it puts huge stress on older people who may not drive or have access to public transport."

We are an aging population. In 2001, 11% of the population was aged 65+. By 2050, 25% of the population will be aged 65+. Even now, there are few families which haven't agonised over caring for elderly parents no longer able to look after themselves. Their increasing frailty, confusion or depression can underline our own inadequacies. And, however obvious the need for full-time professional care for those we love, we may still be haunted by irrational guilt that we have simply 'put them away' in a nursing home. We know only too well that one day this will be our lot too. So it's not just filial duty which should motivate our respect and care for the elderly: it's self-interest, too!

One of the greatest crosses of old age is the loss of independence. Add to this, perhaps, the loss of a life's partner, removal to a strange home, the growing awareness of one's own decline, and it's not surprising that depression can come creeping in. Unfortunately, our society still stigmatises depression, whether the victim is young or old. We should never make light of depression. We must insist on its 'normality', while at the same time stressing its temporary nature, if properly addressed.

Religion of the 'Happy, Clappy' variety has nothing to offer here.

However, some of the finest figures in the Christian story, writers, martyrs, and saints were all too familiar with depression. They endured long periods when they have been more conscious of God's absence than his presence. Even Mother Teresa, in letters published after her death, revealed that she endured long periods of depression. "I am told God lives in me" she wrote, "and yet the reality of darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul."

This was a bad week both for the HSE and the Pharmacy Union. The elderly have enough to contend with besides becoming the 'meat in the sandwich' between these warring factions. Ageism is as odious as racism or sexism.

-Dick Lyng

Hostage To Hope

For the Burmese people, Ms Suu Kyi, 64, represents their best and perhaps sole hope that one day there will be an end to the country's military repression. As a pro-democracy campaigner and leader of the opposition, she has spent more than 11 of the past 19 years in some form of detention under Burma's military regime.

In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her courageous stance. At the presentation, the Chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Francis Sejested, called her "an outstanding example of the power of the powerless".

One of the scripture readings on Sunday last was from the first book of kings. Elijah began to despair of the effect of his prophesying: "Lord," he said, "I have had enough. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." But, after angelic inspiration, he persevered. As I pondered perseverance I recognised two of its constituent parts: courage and hope.

Aung San Suu Kyi has both these qualities in abundance. In Burma her aim was a "revolution of the spirit". She spoke in a language that used decidedly unpolitical images. She defended such words as love, kindness and truth as she stated that politics was about people and people are moved more strongly by love and truth than by coercion.

In the early months of 2007 there was expectation that she would be released but the hope of freedom was crushed. Speak of "déjà vu"! Once again this week she has been sentenced to another 18 months confinement.

Vaclav Havel, the former Czech President who sought liberation from Communist Rule and who nominated Suu Kyi for the Nobel Peace Prize, sees her life as a "fight for human rights". He underlines the fact that "all people need hope" and Suu Kyi is a beacon of hope and courage. Her perseverance gives many others the same virtues. And hope is not forlorn: it gives strength and determination and often achieves results.

Indeed on this day, August 13, 1961 the border between East and West Berlin was closed and the "Berlin Wall" was begun. It has now gone. 40 years ago this week a confrontation between Catholic residents of Bogside and the police in Northern Ireland saw the beginning of the troubles. The peace process has borne fruit.

In the darkest moments, it is often hope that keeps one alive. St Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "We do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Why, we felt we had received the sentence of death but" relying on God not ourselves "we have set our hope that he well deliver us again".

Suu Kyi perseveres with courage and hope. So did Elijah, so did Paul. Theirs is the kind of hope and courage that can inspire us all.

-Dom Anthony Sutch, OSB

If Only God Had a Mobile...

MOSES might have received them on tablets of stone, but now a version of the Ten Commandments is available in "text message" format.

If God Texted The 10 Commandments...

  1. nol b4 me. srsly.
  2. dnt wrshp pix/idols
  3. no omg's
  4. no wrk on w/end (sat 4 now; sun l8r)
  5. prnts ok - ur m&d r cool
  6. dnt kill ppl
  7. sx only w/ m8
  8. dnt steal
  9. dnt lie
  10. dnt ogle ur bf's m8. or ox. or dnkey.

-The Tablet, August 15, 2009.

A SAINT HE AIN'T

Good St. Paul and Vincent Peale
Are men of wholly different steel,
Yet both of holy calling,
Paul is more appealing,
And Peale is most appalling.

-E. Y. Harburg.

A Matter of Language

'For us men ...' When people come to liturgical celebrations, they come with the everyday language of contemporary life in their ears. When people pray in their own words, they use the language with which they are conditioned daily. That language reflects the influence of television, videos, movies, newspapers, magazines, and best sellers. Our liturgical and scriptural language must be 'within the people's powers of comprehension and normally should not require much explanation'.

How much longer will the Church in the English speaking world have to pray with liturgical and biblical texts that are exclusive, unintelligible, culturally insensitive and outmoded? How much longer must women pray, 'For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven' ?

-BISHOP DONALD TRAUTMAN, "Inclusive Language and Revised Liturgical Books" (Origins, 10 April 1997) p. 690.

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