I was in Primary School at a Mass for the opening of the new school year. It was so good to hear the young pupils from 5 to 10 years of age singing their hearts out, and so much at peace with the things of God. What to say to them was a challenge? 

“How many of you have seen photographs of your parents at a young age – perhaps younger than you are now?” More than half put up their hands. “They all went to school, like you now here in school, and look how different they look now to what they were then! Who do you think this is?” One little fellow had an eager hand up straight away. “Jesus!”. “No, Jesus would not have had a tie, and looked Jewish.” Another: “You!” “Yes, you are quite right, when I was younger than anyone in this school”.

 Myself – at a much more tender age!

“But now look and see the difference; this is me with my great nephew, Owen, at a family Mass, just after he was baptised, and the other picture is with my great nieces, Lucy and Zoe, when they were about two years old”.

Myself with my great nephew and two great nieces 

“What a lot of adventures have happened in my life, and God has asked me to be a priest and a monk! So, I can come and say Mass for you here, and who knows what God will want from you!”

On a rather different tack, Pope Benedict is about to go to Lebanon this week-end. It will be a very important mission, and a risky one, as all readers will know about the human ordeal going on in neighbouring Syria. Fewer may know that a Trappist Monastery in the Holy Land, was attacked and vandalised by militant Israeli settlers, last Tuesday, 11 September. What follows is an official report from the Zenit news: 

Political and Religious leaders in Israel have conveyed outrage over last week’s desecration of a local Trappist monastery. 

Vandals struck in the early hours of last Tuesday morning, setting fire to the main entrance of the Latroun Trappist Monastery and spray-painting phrases ridiculing Jesus, along with the names of several West Bank outposts that were recently evicted by the Israeli government. Authorities believe that it was a “price tag” attack, which is the name given for vandalism or acts of violence aimed usually at Israeli security forces or Palestinians. Usually carried out by radical Israeli Jewish settlers, attackers will strike at a site, usually Christian or Muslim, as a price for being evicted from their settlements. 

A group of 50 rabbis and leading Jewish scholars signed a statement written by Rabbi Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottsstein, director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute in Jerusalem, condemning the vandalism. 

Dr. Goshen-Gottstein presented the message after a Sunday Mass at the Latroun monastery presided by the abbot, Fr. René Hascoët. The letter expressed disdain for the attack on the Trappist monastery. “We feel deeply sorry that you were treated with such disrespect by others who are members of our faith community,” the statement read. 

“In our understanding, the creation of humanity in God’s image is the great motif of the Torah. We believe the Torah mandates full respect for the infinite value, equality and uniqueness of every human life, for we are all created in the image of God. There is no place for hatred or bigotry towards those whose religious commitment is different from our own.”

Here is a picture of Pope Benedict as a young boy in Germany, and again as our Holy Father at the age of 85 years.

The boy who would be pope and Pope Benedict at the General Audience, Wednesday 12 September 2012 

This ‘old’ man is going to bring a message of peace and hope to the Christians, and to all people of the Middle East,  presently in the hell of aggressive war. It is a kind of miracle that he will be able to enter such a stressful situation at his age; how many men of eighty-five, of those I know in Leyland, would be up to that? It is not just the man, Joseph Ratzinger, who is involved here, good and faithful though he clearly is. Rather it is the office of the Papacy that is presented in front of everyone. The young, fresh, friendly German boy, of the photo above, had no idea of all that Providence would ask of him in his life, and with God’s grace, what good he may bring about. 

I would end by recommending a beautiful song that is a favourite of my friend, Manfred Kochinky, who is suffering from an incurable brain tumour. What has Providence brought to him, a relatively young man in the prime of life, who has dedicated himself to God, and who, in this illness sees: “The Love of God coming to him”. He told me, today, he cannot listen to this song enough. It is a modern folk song about life, and all that it entails; not only that, it’s all that Jesus, himself, means to those who remain in him. 

If you press control and click on the link it should open up immediately. 

http://youtu.be/FMO8giNalX8 

Manfred wrote: ‘I found this song by Alison Krauss, which rings  lot of bells for me, because I think it is profoundly true.  How lucky I am to be able to go on this road together with others!!’

I’ve seen hard times and I’ve been told
There isn’t any wonder that I fall
Why do we suffer, crossing off the years
There must be a reason for it all

I’ve trusted in You, Jesus, to save me from my sin
Heaven is the place I call my home
But I keep on getting caught up in this world I’m living in
And Your voice it sometimes fades before I know

Hurtin’ brings my heart to You, crying with my need
Depending on Your love to carry me
The love that shed His blood for all the world to see
This must be the reason for it all

Hurtin’ brings my heart to You, a fortress in the storm
When what I wrap my heart around is gone
I give my heart so easily to the ruler of this world
When the one who loves me most will give me all

In all the things that cause me pain You give me eyes to see
I do believe but help my unbelief
I’ve seen hard times and I’ve been told
There is a reason for it all

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