April 2012 Download

8/2/2019 April 2012 Download

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In this issue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 2012

Pop e Benedic t XVIs Cuban pilgrimage

Reaching out to the Cuban majority and re-instituting the Faith........................................................3

Pell's performa nce was a reve lation

A genuine challenge to the wishy-washy claims of militant atheism..................................................5

Lost appetite for The Hunge r Games

Dark themes explored with fake heroes and false love .............................................................. 7

The inherent nature of marriag e

Parliamentary law must protect the sacred institution of one-man and one-woman....................... 10

Leonard Cheshire: a life o f servic e

Strong leadership in courage and charity........................................................................................11

Globa l warming models wrong a ga in

As long as the laws of nature exist, we will have tornadoes............................................................13

Easter vigil: night of the new c rea tion

Jesus is risen and dies no more......................................................................................................15


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Pope Benedict XVIs Cuban pilgrimageBy Faizaan Sami

The Cuban government,

the Roman Catholic

Church and the Cuban

humanitarian group, the

Ladies in White (LasDamas de Blanco), all

formidable entities in their

own right, found

themselves thrust upon the

world stage together as a

result of Pope Benedict

XVIs first trip to Latin

America in five years.

Ahead of the papals three-

day visit to Cuba, members of the Ladies in White were held by Cuban officials; a

series of detainments that were initially prompted by the occupation of a local churchin Cuba by members of the Republican Party of Cuba. The anti-Castro demonstrators

were attempting to influence the Pope before his impending arrival to directly address

the human rights abuses leveled against the Castro regime.

The United States, a long time advocate of the Ladies in White, naturally glommed

onto the public protest and, unsurprisingly, Havana was quick to accuse Washington

of propping up the subversive movement. Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the

National Security Council said the detainments revealed the disdain of the Cuban

authorities for civilian rights and critiqued the acts of those who are standing in the

way of the basic aspirations of the Cuban people. For breaching the strict, state-

administered regulations of their weekly protest, the Cuban government has

prohibited the Ladies of White from future protests, revoking what was already a

narrowed platform to express their views. In light of their suppression, it was

expected that Pope Benedict XVI would emulate his predecessor John Paul II in

publicly denouncing the Cuban administration as well as meet with the religious

dissidents. However, the pope showed a reluctance to be drawn into alliance with

either the Cuban administration or the anti-Castro dissidents, even those that are

directly affiliated with the Church, demonstrating the Catholic institutions principal

intent to become reconnected with Cuban society at large and avoid intervention on

domestic matters.

The Ladies In White March On

Back in October 16th 2011, the Ladies in White marched in somber stride through thestreets of Havana holding white gladiolas just as they had done for eight years after

every Sunday mass at the Santa Rita de Casia Catholic Church. However, there was a

special significance attached to that day; it was the first silent protest without their

founding member, sixty-three year old Laura Polln, who succumbed to cardiac arrest

while under hospital care.

Polln founded the Ladies in White after her husband, Hctor Maseda, an independent

journalist, was arrested during the three day Black Spring raid in March 2003, along

with seventy four other Cuban dissidents. The journalists were accused ofsubverting

the internal order of the nation and received sentences ranging from six to twenty-

eight years incarceration. Gradually, Polln mobilized the wives of other dissidentsand held routine marches to push for their release, even under conditions of adversity,

when pro-government protestors would harangue the group during their marches.

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In March 2011 the remaining dissidents were released, largely due to the efforts of the

Spanish government and the Catholic Church in reaching an agreement with Ral

Castro for the prisoners to flee into exile; a condition that was not entirely adhered by

those that were released. In spite of certain developments, such as the release of those

incarcerated during the Black Spring, the subsequent fragmentation of membership

resulting from the emigration of reunited families as well as the regrettable death of

their leader, the Ladies in White have continued to demonstrate after every Sunday

mass. The impending arrival of his Holiness was viewed as an opportunity for their

claims to be finally heard by the leader of the very institution that helped them form

an unbreakable solidarity. However, compromised by the governments authority, the

Ladies in White and the Catholic Church were unable to establish a direct connection

on this particular trip.

The Prospect Of Conciliation Mediated By The Pope Benedict XVI

Received by Ral Castro at the Santiago airport on March 26th

, the papals visit to

Cuba is meant to commemorate the 400th

anniversary of the El Cobre sanctuary of the

countrys patroness, our Lady of Cobre, but there were certain other elements that

comprised his visit. Of course, the primary agenda was to reach out to the Cuban

majority and reinstitute the Catholic faith at a time when the country has been

incorporating certain minimalist civil liberties and opportunities to its citizenry. Mostof the Cuban faithful fled to the United States after the 1959 Cuban revolution, the

vast majority of which now reside in Miami, but an estimated 800 Cuban Americans

made the voyage to attend the Popes mass in Havana.

While the nature of the Popes visit was claimed to be pastoral, in light of the recent

demonstrations in Havana, comparisons have inevitably been drawn to Pope John

Paul IIs visit to Cuba in 1998, which had marked inferences regarding the protection

of civil rights and releasing incarcerated dissidents. Apart from the expected

denouncement of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, as previously iterated by Pope John Paul

II, Pope Benedict XVI was unlikely to be drawn into the current political skirmish.

Not only would intervention threaten the Catholic Churchs mending relationship withthe Cuban administration and thus its long-term goals in the country, but because it

wouldnt correspond with the Churchs current emphasis on counteracting its

dwindling supporter base. The Pope, however, did give a frank assessment of Cubas

political and economic Marxist framework, claiming it no longer corresponds to

reality. But far from advocating outright economic liberalization, he also criticized

the Wests capitalist model for leaving humanity devoid of values and

defenseless against predatory powers.

The Resurgence Of Catholicism In Cuba?

In some ways, there hasnt been a better time for the Catholic Church to re-establish

itself into the social fabric of this Caribbean island state, due in part to the efforts of

Cubas Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who has been able to position the church increasingly

as an intermediary force on the island. Under Ortega, the Church has offered care

centers and limited training programs, and pushed for church administered education,

not to mention it was the Cardinal who helped to negotiate the release of the Black

Spring political dissidents. With various external forces trickling into the socialist

state, the combination of light economic and social reforms under Ral Castros

government has highlighted a degree of adaptation of the stringent style of

governance that his brother practiced. Rals burgeoning relationship with the

Cardinal is indicative of the leaders acknowledgement of the Church as a positive

influence in not only uniting the population but also providing them it with a semi-

autonomous authority capable of adequately nurturing the population. As it seeks togain legitimacy outside of its U.S.-inflicted seclusion, the promotion of religious

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12842392http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57406080/100s-of-cuban-americans-visit-cuba-to-see-pope/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/world/americas/pope-benedict-in-cuba-for-second-leg-of-latin-america-visit.html%20http:/www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/world/americas/pope-benedict-in-cuba-for-second-leg-of-latin-america-visit.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/world/americas/pope-benedict-in-cuba-for-second-leg-of-latin-america-visit.html%20http:/www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/world/americas/pope-benedict-in-cuba-for-second-leg-of-latin-america-visit.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/26/pope-cuba-trip-cuban-catholics_n_1379298.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/26/pope-cuba-trip-cuban-catholics_n_1379298.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/world/americas/pope-benedict-in-cuba-for-second-leg-of-latin-america-visit.html%20http:/www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/world/americas/pope-benedict-in-cuba-for-second-leg-of-latin-america-visit.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/world/americas/pope-benedict-in-cuba-for-second-leg-of-latin-america-visit.html%20http:/www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/world/americas/pope-benedict-in-cuba-for-second-leg-of-latin-america-visit.htmlhttp://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57406080/100s-of-cuban-americans-visit-cuba-to-see-pope/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12842392


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freedom will deliver the benefit of reinforcing Cubas association with that of the

Latin American region in which Catholicism plays a prominent role.

On the other hand, with the backing of the Cuban administration, the Catholic Church

now has the capacity to influence public discourse in Cuba over the long term, a

prospect that would have been vulnerable if it visibly sided with the Ladies in White.

As he stood before several hundred thousand Cubans at the open-air Mass in Havana,

Pope Benedict XVI used the opportunity to directly connect with the public, ticking

all the right boxes. In his speech, the papal urged for the recalibration of Cubansociety characterized by greater civil liberties and material resources for Cubans,

going on to denounce the U.S. embargo, all of which reinforced the papals

indifference to government influence. Cubas Minister of Planning and Economy,

Marino Murillo, responded promptly and succinctly, confirming that in Cuba, there

would be no political reform. The various initiatives of the Church, such as

instituting Catholic teaching in schools, gaining access to broadcast

networks, declaring Good Friday a public holiday and building new churches have

been proposed to the Cuban administration but the general consensus is that the status

quo will remain. However, as marginal reform occurs under Ral Castros

administration and as both the president and Cardinal Ortega form a deeper

relationship, it is the sense of timing that could ensure that the popes visit will act asa catalyst for change in the hearts in minds of the Cuban public.

This analysis was prepared by Faizaan Sami, Research Associate for the Council on

Hemispheric Affairs. www.eurasiareview.com

PellsperformancewasarevelationGREG SHERIDAN www.theaustralian.com.au

THERE were times in

Monday night's greatdebate on the ABC's Q&A

between Catholic Cardinal

George Pell and militant

atheist Richard Dawkins

when you felt the boxing

authorities would step in

and call a halt to the bout.

Dawkins was so obviously

boxing above his weight

division, was so

completely outclassed inall aspects of the

encounter, that you felt the event promoters were being cruel to him.

The ABC deserves credit for broadcasting the debate and doing so in a reasonably

serious fashion, allowing answers to go a bit longer than usual so that whole thoughts,

rather than staccato sound bites, could emerge from our screens. And the ABC was

duly rewarded with nearly a million viewers, the highest ratings Q&A has ever got.

Given that Dawkins types appear endlessly on the ABC - indeed, it seems any C-list

London celebrity who can cadge a fare to Australia will be invited to proclaim their

atheist faith at length on ABC public affairs programs - here's a radical thought:

perhaps it was Pell who was the attraction on Monday night.

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This debate was an important event in Australian public life and it tells us several

things. First, though, there is a context we should bear in mind. Throughout human

history the vast majority of people, and indeed the vast majority of people alive today,

have believed a religious interpretation of life. Australia seems an unusually secular

society, though not as secular as Britain or France. But we are less secular than we

seem. One lesson from Monday night is that the ABC, and much of the secular media,

consciously or unconsciously, censor and sideline mainstream, orthodox Christian

voices. Two types of Christians are commonly asked to appear in the public affairs

part of media. One concentrates entirely on social justice issues, with an interpretation

always that governments should spend more money, and more or less promises never

to mention God. Tim Costello comes to mind. Another is what one might call the

"turbulent priest", the person whose main contribution to public debate is to criticise

or condemn the Christian denomination with which they are affiliated.

What was so distinctive about Pell was that he was a clear, self-confident, erudite but

easily understandable spokesman for mainstream Australian Christianity. In sidelining

such voices, the mainstream media, with honourable exceptions, sidelines the most

important and biggest non-government institutions in our society, and indeed the

institutions that in large measure created Western civilisation. This is a very

provincial Australian position. Sometimes the liberal position in Australia argues forgreater internationalism and cosmopolitanism in our outlook. If we were to take that

seriously we would take religion more seriously. Mervyn Bendle has an interesting

take on this in this month's issue of Quadrant, where he highlights the link between

faith and fertility. At its simplest, people of religious belief have far more children

than people without religious belief. Not only is the majority of the world committed

to a religious view of life, this majority is increasing.

If we want to be Asia literate we need to understand Islam in Indonesia, Catholicism

in The Philippines, Protestant Christianity in South Korea and the extraordinary

dynamism of the underground Christian movement in China. Pretending that religion

is a force only from the past is part of the baby boomer fantasy, to which so many of

the media class subscribe, that they are forever in revolt against the forgotten

authority structures of the 1950s, proving their subversiveness by using rude words on

TV and radio and mocking or ignoring religion.

But Pell's performance was a revelation in other ways. Melvyn Bragg, the author of a

splendid book on the King James Bible, though not a practising Christian, has

recently argued that the new militant atheism, represented by Dawkins and his

countless local imitators, is a destructive force because it seeks to annihilate, or at

least cut society off from, the great store of human knowledge, expertise and wisdom

embodied in the Christian tradition. Why would you favour such ignorance, is Bragg's

unanswerable question. Pell gave us a glimpse on Monday night of what the tradition

embodies: its wisdom, its urbanity, its range and depth. Dawkins's arguments lookedantique and clumsy. There was something faintly Edwardian about his materialist

inability to grasp, or even to concede the intellectual substance of, the tradition of

metaphysics going back to the ancient Greeks. When Dawkins explained that the

universe had come from nothing, but that nothing was really very complex and, in

fact, consisted of something, people laughed. Dawkins was annoyed and, like a

humourless school marm, peevishly scolded the audience: "Why is that funny?"

The new militant atheism is not used to being disagreed with and certainly it's unusual

for it to be challenged on the ABC. Pell was helped by his sense of humour, and his

sense of good humour. He remarked: "The trouble, well, there are many troubles with

Richard's teachings, but a fundamental one is that he dumbs down God and soups up

nothing. He continually talks as though God is some sort of upmarket figure within

space and time. Now, from 450, 500BC where, with the Greek philosophers, God is

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outside space and time. God is necessary, self-sufficient, uncaused, unconditioned.

That's the hypothesis you've got to wrestle with."

Over several decades of dedicated listening to ABC current affairs programs I must

have heard dozens, if not hundreds, of expositions of atheism - Stephen Fry,

Christopher Hitchens, Dawkins et al - but I don't think I've ever before on ABC

current affairs heard a clear, straightforward exposition of Christianity. It's as if when

discussing the Labor Party the ABC would interview only recalcitrant unionist Dean

Mighell, and when discussing the Liberals would interview only hostile former stafferGreg Barns. Christians have a legitimate complaint that, far from representing any

kind of social conformity, their views, as Christians, are not given the normal

democratic weight that their institutional consequence and popular allegiance would

suggest is appropriate.

The final reflection is that we should realise what a remarkable, and internationally

important, figure Pell is. The Catholic Church is the most significant non-government

organisation in the world and for at least the past decade Pell has been a pivotal figure

in its central governance in Rome. He was intimately involved in the decision to elect

former cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI. He has had countless key

appointments in the Vatican and there is talk - not from Pell himself, of course - of

Pell as Vatican secretary of state, the Catholic Church's foreign minister.

But here is the big story. God is not dead. In thinking so, the mavens of our culture

are in a small and dwindling minority.

LostappetiteforTheHungerGames

A video review of the hottest film since Twilight and Harry Potter.

Description

Reality TV meets Lord of

the Flies. Every year,

twelve boys and twelve

girls are chosen to take part

in the Hunger Games.

Watched by the entire

nation, this is action-packed

reality TV at its most

exciting - and most

dangerous. Katniss

Everdeen has grown up

struggling to save thepeople close to her. Now

she faces the biggest

challenge of all - the fight for her life. Winning will make you famous. Losing means certain

death.

Good Reading Review

This review will probably not be popular, but it's important to talk about these issues. It

discusses the entire Hunger Games Trilogy: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and

Mockingjay. War, persecution, abuse, suffering -- these are common themes in literature and I

am not overly disturbed by them, at least in principle. Dark themes are a part of life, and even

if they are difficult to face they can be invaluable for testing character, proving virtue, and

drawing out what is most beautiful in human nature, as well as the worst. In teen literature, it

all depends how they are dealt with. If a story about evil, abusive powers provides a context

for characters to choose how to respond and bear responsibility for that choice, it offers

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something invaluable. Even if characters go along with the evil, the narrative should not

absolve them from the responsibility of acting in that way. If, on the other hand, the narrative

claims that the characters had no choice but were forced to act that way by circumstances,

then it only helps to make readers more confused. If in addition a novel turns violence into

gratuitous entertainment, it only reinforces negative themes and desensitises an age group that

should be building their emotional intelligence, not killing it.

No doubt there are worse examples of this kind of literature, but in my view the ultra-best-

selling series and now movie The Hunger Games, is bad enough. In a dystopian vision of the

near future, Hunger Games is a terrifying reality TV show where twelve boys and twelve girlsare forced to compete to the death. The Capitol has imposed the games on the children of the

twelve districts under its control to remind them that rebellion is futile. Sixteen-year-old

Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sisters place, and though she sees it as a death

sentence, she is determined to survive for the sake of her family. Author Suzanne Collins

conceived the idea for Hunger Games while channel surfing between reality TV shows and

news coverage of an actual war zone. It is not a particularly uplifting theme, yet Collins has

many readers convinced that the books ethics are clear: it is a critique of the violent injustice

it describes. I am not convinced.

Survival

In the games, survival is the ultimate good and death the greatest evil; our heroine never

questions this. She and the other characters do whatever it takes to survive, and for games

contestants this means killing. Katniss is the good girl so she is subtle at first, dropping an

insect nest on someones head so they swell up and die 'naturally', or destroying another

groups food so they will starve. Her district companion Peeta confesses that to murder

innocent people costs everything you are, yet indirectly and later directly, both he and

Katniss still do it. The experience is like reading a first hand account of a Nazi soldier doing

horrible things to others in order to stay alive. The fact is, sometimes survival is not the most

important thing and it is necessary to be prepared to die rather than kill someone else. In

Collins books, survival only loses its appeal when suffering makes death more appealing

than life, justifying the suicide and mercy killing which are rife in the series. Towards the end

the rebelsincluding Katnisscarry a suicide bomb in case they or their friends are caught.

Failure to kill a captured friend is seen as a failure of friendship, and Katniss reluctance to

use it is a sign of her weakness. Darkness1; Characters0.Desensitisation and romance

Next there is brutal desensitisation so the characters wont get so hurt (it is not acknowledged

that this too is a form of harm), and romance used as a tool of survival. The games are

televised and sponsors must be sought to provide the food and medicine contestants will need

to survive. Body appearance is therefore important: each contestant has a stylist who must

first assess them without clothes (Katniss bravely resists the urge to cover herself), and then

a full body wax makes them camera-ready. This is probably normal for reality TV, but dont

tell me its brave. At first, the other contestants mock Katniss with explicit offers and gestures

because she is so 'pure'. But soon she 'toughens up' and is able to laugh rather than blush at

their provocative displays, and shows less of a concern to protect herself. As Katniss is 'built

up' (broken down), Collins seems to enjoy describing the loss of innocence; its quite

nauseating.

From the start, a fake relationship between Katniss and Peeta is played up to win sponsorship.

'One kiss equals one pot of broth', so Katniss maintains a star-crossed lovers routine with

long, lingering kisses and imaginary tears, and later the pretence that they are married and that

she is pregnant. Peeta himself falls for it, but Katniss is just confused about what she feels.

This doesnt stop her from kissing, hugging and 'comfort' bed sharing with Peeta, nor prevent

her kissing her old friend Gale 'to make up for all the kisses Ive withheld, because it doesnt

matter anymore, and because Im so desperately lonely I cant stand it.' This petty, selfish,

mockery of love is all that is served up in Hunger Games. Not only did Katniss embrace her

progressive desensitisation and confusedly false romance, but the book makes her a hero for

it. Darkness2; Characters0.

Feelings replace right and wrongNow to ethics per se. Actions are deemed right or wrong based on how the characters feel

about them. For Katniss the pattern is repeated over and over: a catastrophic situation is

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followed by her passionate but often unethical reaction, then a soul-searching analysis of her

feelings to deal with her guilt, followed by defiant justification that she had no choice, or, if

she had a choice, that she was confused, which is the fault of those who created the

catastrophe. Thus she becomes the victim-hero: none of the evilincluding that which she

did herselfis her fault: they made her do it. Is there not a little duplicity in someone who

curses the horrible culture that sacrifices its children to settle its differences, when she herself

has played along with it the whole time? Darkness3; Characters0.

Heroic rebellion

Some may claim that Katniss did rebel. First, her fake romance: What is rebellious or heroicabout this self-serving tactic? Second, Katniss' and Peetas threat of double suicide to demand

that they both be allowed to live: after killing so many others her effort to spare a friend rings

hollow. Third, her placing of flowers on her dead friends body: but then she goes on to

continue the games, fighting and killing What about the grand finale where Katniss joins

the rebels to bring down the Capitol? Running on hatred, bitterness and revenge, the rebels

use bombs and guns to kill hundreds of innocent citizens who get in the way. Katniss may not

like the large-scale killing, but she has no problem shooting a startled citizen who blocks her

path. Still, we are reassured, its not her fault. Darkness4; Characters0.

Sensationalism

Reinforcing all the above is the seductive sensationalism of the storytelling. It is like watching

a graphic news story that turns horrific events into entertainment, using excessive detail and

twisting the narrative to wrench every possible emotion from the viewer, constantly driven to

bigger and better shocks for impact. The screaming, the blood, the broken bodies, the

instruments of torture and the damage they do -- when all this is no longer enough the

emotional impact of the slow and graphic death of some poor, innocent character weve come

to like is thrown in. I dont know how on earth the movie will rate PG. How can this series be

a critique of using injury and death for entertainment when it does the same itself?! Thanks to

the gratuitous graphic detail not only the characters, but the readers too, are damaged.

Darkness5; Characters (and readers)0.

So, what do we do now?

Readers should question the lack of freedom and responsibility of these characters. Could

they have chosen to act differently? Are they responsible for choosing to act badly? Would

we be right to do the same in their situation? Are they heroes for acting as they did? If there isstill confusion, ask the same questions about Nazi soldiers. Also think about the effect of

turning horrible things into entertainment. Parents may find some helpful analysis of the

effect of desensitisation on our ability to love in Wendy Shalits shocking book A Return to

Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue (1998).

It will also help to look at alternative novels. Birthmarked (2010) by Caragh M. OBrien is a

recent favourite of mine. Though its also dystopian and deals with dark themes in a cruel

future world, the beauty of characters actions transforms the story completely. (update: Sadly

its sequel Prized was not as good, but we're still hopeful for book 3 which will be released late

in 2012). Another alternative is The Book Thief(2006) by Markus Zusak. In this interview

the author describes the beauty of human goodness which can be discovered in the midst of

great evil. There are so many more great novels which explore dark or difficult themes butclearly show protagonists taking responsibility for their actions. Trash by Andy Mulligan

(2010), The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom (1971), The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by

John Boyne (2006), The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy (1903), A Rose for the

ANZAC Boys by Jackie French (2008), Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie

Ford (2009), The Help by Kathryn Stockett (2009, mature readers), Anne Frank: the Diary of

a Young Girl (1947), Sophie Scholl and the White Rose by Annette Dumbach (1999, mature

readers),Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by

Eric Metaxas (2007), Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza (2006, mature readers), St Maria

Goretti: in Garments all Red by Godfrey Poage (1998), Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor

Frankl (1946), Life Without Limits by Nick Vujicic (2010). Read and compare, and decide

who the real heroes are.

Reviewed by Clare Cannon. www.mercatornet

9
http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Birthmarked-1-OBrien-Caragh-M/9780857071392http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Birthmarked-2-Prized-OBrien-Caragh-M/9780857074959http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Book-Thief-Zusak-Markus/9780330423304http://youtu.be/m7B8ioiZz7Mhttp://www.goodreadingguide.com/Trash-Mulligan-Andy/9780385752169http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Boy-Striped-PyjamasThe-Boyne-John/9781849920438http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Scarlet-Pimpernel-Baroness-Orczy/9780340894989http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Rose-Anzac-Boys-French-Jackie/9780732285401http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Rose-Anzac-Boys-French-Jackie/9780732285401http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Hotel-Corner-Bitter-and-Sweet-Ford-Jamie/9780345505347http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Help-Stockett-Kathryn/9780241956533http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Diary-Young-Girl-Frank-Anne/9780141039824http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Diary-Young-Girl-Frank-Anne/9780141039824http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Diary-Young-Girl-Frank-Anne/9780141039824http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Sophie-Scholl-and-White-Rose-Dumbach-Annette/9781851685363http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Amazing-Grace-William-Wilberforce-and-Heroic-Campaign-End-Slavery-Metaxas-Eric/9780061173882http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Left-Tell-Discovering-God-Amidst-Rwandan-Holocaust-Ilibagiza-Immaculee/9781401908973http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Frankl-Viktor/9780807014295http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Life-Without-Limits-Inspiration-Ridiculously-Good-Life-Vujicic-Nick/9781742375625http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Life-Without-Limits-Inspiration-Ridiculously-Good-Life-Vujicic-Nick/9781742375625http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Frankl-Viktor/9780807014295http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Left-Tell-Discovering-God-Amidst-Rwandan-Holocaust-Ilibagiza-Immaculee/9781401908973http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Amazing-Grace-William-Wilberforce-and-Heroic-Campaign-End-Slavery-Metaxas-Eric/9780061173882http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Sophie-Scholl-and-White-Rose-Dumbach-Annette/9781851685363http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Diary-Young-Girl-Frank-Anne/9780141039824http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Diary-Young-Girl-Frank-Anne/9780141039824http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Help-Stockett-Kathryn/9780241956533http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Hotel-Corner-Bitter-and-Sweet-Ford-Jamie/9780345505347http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Rose-Anzac-Boys-French-Jackie/9780732285401http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Rose-Anzac-Boys-French-Jackie/9780732285401http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Scarlet-Pimpernel-Baroness-Orczy/9780340894989http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Boy-Striped-PyjamasThe-Boyne-John/9781849920438http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Trash-Mulligan-Andy/9780385752169http://youtu.be/m7B8ioiZz7Mhttp://www.goodreadingguide.com/Book-Thief-Zusak-Markus/9780330423304http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Birthmarked-2-Prized-OBrien-Caragh-M/9780857074959http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Birthmarked-1-OBrien-Caragh-M/9780857071392


10/16

TheinherentnatureofmarriageIn his submission to the Senate Legal and

Constitutional Affairs Committee Inquiry

into the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill

2010, Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of

Sydney has said that over some thousands of

years marriage has only meant the union of a

man and woman. If this definition ischanged, the social glue holding society

together will be further damaged. No

practical or legal advantages will be gained

beyond those presently available. It is a

symbolic move and designed to prevent

Christians in the future from teaching about

the true nature of marriage, family and

sexual activity. Cardinal Pell has urged

Parliament to continue to recognise and support marriage as an institution between a man and

a woman.

Marriage is a union that is publicly recognised, honoured and supported because of itsunique capacity to generate children and to meet childrens deepest needs for the love and

attachment of both their father and their mother, Cardinal Pell said. Marriage is not simply

a loving, committed relationship between two people, but a unique kind of physical and

emotional union which is open to the possibility of new life. Cardinal Pell explained this

understanding of marriage also holds true for those heterosexual married couples who do not

or cannot have children due to age or infertility, because their sexual relationship still

expresses the potential for and capability of creating life. Marriage between a man and a

woman always has an inherent capacity for, and orientation towards, the generation of

children, whether that capacity is actualised or not.

Cardinal Pell reiterated that unjust discrimination against homosexual persons is always

wrong. At the same time, participation in particular social institutions is not always equally

available to all persons within society, because the meaning and character of those institutions

needs to be respected. It is not unjust discrimination against homosexual couples to uphold

marriage as being between a man and a woman. Marriage and same-sex unions are essentially

different realities. Justice, in fact, requires society to recognise and respect this difference."

Cardinal Pell pointed to the recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights, which

affirmed that there is no right to same-sex marriage under international law. The right to

marry is a fundamental human right. However, to respect this right means to accept the

objective reality of marriage as a union of a man and a woman that is inherently

procreative. Cardinal Pell also referred to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

which upholds the right of children to their biological heritage and warned that changing the

law on marriage would fail to protect this right.

The family, based on marriage, is the basic unit on which society and the extended family isbuilt ... It is a grave injustice to deliberately deprive children of the experience of being loved

and raised by their natural mother and father and to prevent them from having a developing

and ongoing relationship with their biological siblings. While some proponents of same-sex

marriage have proposed legal exemptions for the Catholic Church and other religious

communities from being required to perform same-sex marriages, His Eminence warned that

religious freedom is at risk for all Australians. An exemption would only apply to

religious celebrants, and would offer no legal protection for the vast majority of Catholics and

other Australians with a religious and/or conscientiously-held belief that marriage is a union

of a man and a woman.

Changing the legal definition of marriage would threaten the right of Catholics and all

Australians who believe in marriage to live, teach and publicly practise their belief thatmarriage is a union of a man and a woman. Cardinal Pell urged Parliament to consider the

profound social impact of a legal redefinition of marriage, warning that societys

10


11/16

understanding of marriage and children will be fundamentally altered, at the expense of

children. When we equate same-sex relationships with marriage, it further undermines our

understanding of family by wrongly implying that biological connectivity of children with

their parents and siblings is not important ... it mistakenly says that having both a mother and

a father is an unnecessary and superfluous duplication. When legislatures act to change

laws, social norms change as a consequence and these impact on all members of the

community. Cardinal Pell called upon Parliament to recognise the enduring meaning of

marriage as a union between a man and a woman, uniquely designed for the gift of children

and the continuation of humanity.The real and distinctive meaning of marriage a meaning cherished and preserved for

countless generations of the human family must not be taken away because of a deeply

misguided idea that marriage only means any kind of committed relationship between two

individuals.

Catholic Communications, Archdiocese of Sydney.

LeonardCheshire:alifeofserviceFrom Wikipedia

Group Captain Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire, VC, OM, (7 September 1917

31 July 1992) was a highly decorated BritishRAFpilot during the Second World War.Among the honours Cheshire received as a bomber pilot is the Victoria Cross, the highest and

most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded

to British and Commonwealth forces. After the war, he became a charity worker, setting up

the Leonard Cheshire Disability organisation as well as other philanthrophic organisations.

Leonard Cheshire was the son ofGeoffrey Chevalier Cheshire, DCL,LLD, FBA, a barrister,

academic and influential writer on English law. He had one brother, Christopher Cheshire,

also a wartime pilot. Cheshire was born in Chester, but was brought up at his parents' home

near Oxford. Cheshire was educated at Oxford, where he became friends with John Niel

Randle. On one occasion at Oxford he was bet half a pint of beer that he could not walk to

Paris. With no more than a few pennies and a pocket handkerchief he won his bet. Cheshire

graduated in Jurisprudence in 1939.

After learning basic piloting skills with

the Oxford University Air Squadron,

Cheshire joined the RAF after the

outbreak of the Second World War as a

Pilot Officer, and was initially posted in

June 1940 to 102 Squadron,

flying Armstrong Whitworth

Whitley medium bombers, from RAF

Driffield. In November 1940, he was

awarded the DSO for flying his badly-

damaged bomber back to base. In January

1941, Cheshire completed his tour ofoperations, but then volunteered

immediately for a second tour. He was

posted to 35 Squadron with the brand new Handley Page Halifax and completed his second

tour early in 1942, by now a Squadron Leader. August 1942 saw a return to operations as CO

ofNo. 76 Squadron RAF. The squadron had recently suffered high losses operating the

Halifax, and Cheshire immediately tackled the low morale of the unit by ordering an

improvement in the performance of the squadron aircraft by removing the mid-upper and

nose gun turrets along with exhaust covers and other weighty non-essential equipment. This

allowed the bombers to fly higher and faster. Losses soon fell and morale rose accordingly.

Later in 1941, Cheshire married the Americanactress, Constance Binney (21 years his

senior), but the marriage was short-lived and childless.

Cheshire became Station Commander RAF Marston Moor in March as the youngest GroupCaptain in the RAF, though the job was never to his liking and he pushed for a return to an

operational command. These efforts paid off with a posting as commander of the

11
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12/16

legendary 617 "Dambusters" Squadron in September 1943. While with 617, Cheshire helped

pioneer a new method of marking enemy targets for Bomber Command's 5 Group, flying in at

a very low level in the face of strong defences, using first, the versatile Mosquito, then a

"borrowed" P-51 Mustang fighter. This development work was the subject of some severe

intraservice politics; Cheshire was encouraged by his 5 Group Commander Air Vice-

MarshalRalph Cochrane, although the 8 Group Pathfinder AOC Air Vice-Marshal Don

Bennett saw this work as impinging on the responsibilities of his own command.

Cheshire was nearing the end of his fourth tour of duty in July 1944, having completed a total

of 102 missions, when he was awarded the Victoria Cross. He was the only one of the 32 VCairmen to win the medal for an extended period of sustained courage and outstanding effort,

rather than a single act of valour. His citation noted: In four years of fighting against the

bitterest opposition he maintained a standard of outstanding personal achievement, his

successful operations being the result of careful planning, brilliant execution and supreme

contempt for danger for example, on one occasion he flew his P-51 Mustang in slow 'figures

of eight' above a target obscured by low cloud, to act as a bomb-aiming mark for his

squadron. Cheshire displayed the courage and determination of an exceptional leader. It also

noted a raid in which he had marked a target, flying a Mosquito at low level against

"withering fire". Cheshire was, in his day, both the youngest Group Captain in the service

and, following his VC, the most decorated.

On his 103rd mission, he was the official British observer of the nuclear

bombing ofNagasaki. His vantage point was in the support B-29Big Stink. He did notwitness the event as close up as anticipated due to aircraft commander James Hopkins' failure

to link up with the other B-29s. Hopkins was meant to join with the others over Yakushima,

but he circled at 39,000 ft instead of the agreed height of 30,000 ft. He tried to justify this by

the need to keep the VIP passengers out of danger, but Cheshire thought that Hopkins was

"overwrought". "Many assumed that it was Nagasaki which emptied him. In fact, as he kept

pointing out, it was the war as a whole. Like Britain herself, he had been fighting or training

for fighting since 1939." He was earlier quoted as saying: "...then I for one hold little brief for

the future of civilization".

Cheshire left the RAF in 1946 and the time immediately after the war saw him start several

new ventures. One of these was a community called VIP (standing for the Latin phrase Vade

in Pacem, meaning Go in Peace) which eventually settled in a house called Le Court inHampshire which Cheshire bought from an aunt. VIP's aim was to provide an opportunity for

ex-servicemen and women and their families to live together, each contributing to the

community what they could, in order to help their transition back into civilian life. He hoped

that training, prosperity and fulfillment would result from united effort and mutual support.

He saw the community as one way of continuing to work towards world peace. But the idea

did not prosper and the community came to an end in 1947.

At the beginning of 1948, Cheshire heard about the case of Arthur Dykes, who had been one

of Cheshire's original "VIP" community at Le Court, Hampshire and was suffering from

cancer. Dykes asked Cheshire to give him some land to park a caravan until he recovered, but

Cheshire discovered that Dykes was terminally ill and that this diagnosis was concealed from

him. He told Dykes the real position and invited him to stay at Le Court. Cheshire learned

nursing skills and was soon approached to take in a second patient, the 94-year-old bedriddenwife of a man who had just been taken off to hospital after suffering a stroke. She was

followed by others, some coming to stay and others to help. Although Le Court had no

financial support, and his situation was financially perilous most of the time, money somehow

always seemed to arrive in the nick of time to stave off disaster.

Cheshire had been brought up a Christian, but had lapsed. In 1945, in the Vanity Fair club in

Mayfair, he joined a conversation about religion. "It was absurd," he said, "to imagine that

God existed, except as a convenient figure of speech. Man had invented God to explain the

voice of conscience, but it was doubtful whether right or wrong existed outside the human

mind. They were words affixed like labels to customs and laws which man had also invented

to keep social order." To Cheshire's surprise, as he sat back, "pleased with his worldly

wisdom," he was roundly rebuked for "talking such rot" by a woman friend who "was one ofthe last persons on earth he would have credited with" religious convictions.

12
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Arthur Dykes died in August 1948. After completing the arrangements for his funeral,

Cheshire idly picked up a book a friend had sent him. It was One Lord, One Faith by Vernon

Johnson, a former High Anglican clergyman who, against every cherished instinct and

prejudice, had converted to Roman Catholicism because, as he put it, "I could not resist the

claim of the Catholic Church to be the one true Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ to

guard and teach the truth.... She alone possesses the authority and unity necessary for such a

Divine vocation." On Christmas Eve, 1948, Cheshire was received into the Catholic Church.

That day there were eight patients staying at Le Court.]By the end of the following June,

there were twenty-eight. Cheshire dedicated the rest of his life to supporting disabled people,combining this with lecturing on conflict resolution.

In 1948, Cheshire founded the charity now styled Leonard Cheshire Disability, which

provides support to disabled people throughout the world. It is now one of the top 30 British

charities. Other organisations set up by Leonard Cheshire are: The Ryder-Cheshire

Foundation, set up by Leonard Cheshire and his wife Sue Ryder in 1959. It now mainly

operates in two fields: the rehabilitation of disabled people, through Ryder-Cheshire

Volunteers and the prevention and treatment oftuberculosis, through Target Tuberculosis. In

1953 Cheshire founded the Raphael Pilgrimage in order to enable sick and disabled people to

travel to Lourdes. The Leonard Cheshire Disability & Inclusive Development Centre is a joint

project by Leonard Cheshire Disability and University College London (originally set up in

1997 as the Leonard Cheshire Centre of Conflict Recovery). He founded the Memorial Fund

for Disaster Relief, a UK charity in whose benefit the Roger Waters concert The Wall - Livein Berlin was held. Cheshire opened this concert by blowing a Second World War whistle.

Leonard Cheshire was concerned about future remembrance and was influential in the

concept of the National Memorial Arboretum, founded by David Childs. The amphitheatre at

the Arboretum is dedicated to the memory of Leonard Cheshire.

On 5 April 1959, in Bombay's Roman Catholic Cathedral, he married Sue Ryder, also a

Roman Catholic convert and humanitarian. He and Baroness Ryder were one of the few

couples to both hold titles in their own right. They had two children, Jeromy and Elizabeth

Cheshire, and lived in Cavendish, Suffolk. He died ofmotor neurone disease on 31 July

1992, aged 74. Cheshire was later awarded the Order of Merit, was given a life peerage

as Baron Cheshire of Woodhall and Queen Elizabeth II paid personal tribute to him in

her Royal Christmas Message in December 1992. Former Pink Floyd member RogerWaters once described Cheshire as "the only true Christian I've ever met." There is a house

at Xavier College, a leading private school in Melbourne, Australia, named after Cheshire. St

Ignatius College, a private school in Sydney, Australia, also has a house named after

Cheshire.

GlobalWarmingmodelswrongagainThe observed response of the climate to more CO2 is not in good agreement with

predictions.

During a fundraiser in Atlanta earlier this month, President Obama is reported to have

said: "It gets you a little nervous about what is happening to global temperatures.

When it is 75 degrees in Chicago in the beginning of March, you start thinking. On theother hand, I really have enjoyed nice weather." What is happening to global

temperatures in reality? The answer is: almost nothing for more than 10 years.

Monthly values of the global temperature anomaly of the lower atmosphere, compiled

at the University of Alabama from NASA satellite data, can be found at the website

http://www.drroyspencer.com/latest-global-temperatures/. The latest (February 2012)

monthly global temperature anomaly for the lower atmosphere was minus 0.12

degrees Celsius, slightly less than the average since the satellite record of temperatures

began in 1979.The lack of any statistically significant warming for over a decade has

made it more difficult for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change (IPCC) and its supporters to demonize the atmospheric gas CO2 which is

released when fossil fuels are burned. The burning of fossil fuels has been one reasonfor an increase of CO2 levels in the atmosphere to around 395 ppm (or parts per

13
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14/16

million), up from preindustrial levels of about 280 ppm. CO2 is not a pollutant. Life

on earth flourished for hundreds of millions of years at much higher CO2 levels than

we see today. Increasing CO2 levels will be a net benefit because cultivated plants

grow better and are more resistant

to drought at higher CO2 levels,

and because warming and other

supposedly harmful effects of CO2

have been greatly exaggerated.

Nations with affordable energy

from fossil fuels are more

prosperous and healthy than those

without. The direct warming due

to doubling CO2 levels in the

atmosphere can be calculated to

cause a warming of about one

degree Celsius. The IPCC

computer models predict a much

larger warming, three degrees

Celsius or even more, because they assume changes in water vapor or clouds thatsupposedly amplify the direct warming from CO2. Many lines of observational

evidence suggest that this "positive feedback" also has been greatly exaggerated.

There has indeed been some warming, perhaps about 0.8 degrees Celsius, since the

end of the so-called Little Ice Age in the early 1800s. Some of that warming has

probably come from increased amounts of CO2, but the timing of the warmingmuch

of it before CO2 levels had increased appreciablysuggests that a substantial fraction

of the warming is from natural causes that have nothing to do with mankind.

Frustrated by the lack of computer-predicted warming over the past decade, some IPCC

supporters have been claiming that "extreme weather" has become more common because of

more CO2. But there is no hard evidence this is true. After an unusually cold winter in 2011

(December 2010-February 2011) the winter of 2012 was unusually warm in the continentalUnited States. But the winter of 2012 was bitter in Europe, Asia and Alaska. Weather

conditions similar to 2012 occurred in the winter of 1942, when the U.S. Midwest was

unusually warm, and when the Wehrmacht encountered the formidable forces of "General

Frost" in a Russian winter not unlike the one Russians just had. Large fluctuations from warm

to cold winters have been the rule for the U.S., as one can see from records kept by the

National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA. For example, the winters of 1932

and 1934 were as warm as or warmer than the 2011-2012 one and the winter of 1936 was

much colder. Nightly television pictures of the tragic destruction from tornadoes over the past

months might make one wonder if the frequency of tornadoes is increasing, perhaps due to the

increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. But as one can read at Andrew Revkin's New

York Times blog, dotearth, "There is no evidence of any trend in the number of potent

tornadoes (category F2 and up) over the past 50 years in the United States, even as globaltemperatures have risen markedly."

Like winter temperatures, the numbers, severity and geographical locations of tornadoes

fluctuate from year-to-year in ways that are correlated with the complicated fluid flow patterns

of the oceans and atmosphere, the location of the jet stream, El Nio or La Nia conditions of

the tropical Pacific Oceans, etc. As long as the laws of nature exist, we will have tornadoes.

But we can save many more lives by addressing the threat of tornadoes directlyfor example,

with improved and more widely dispersed weather radars, and with better means for warning

the people of endangered areasthan by credulous support of schemes to reduce "carbon

footprints," or by funding even more computer centers to predict global warming. It is easy to

be confused about climate, because we are constantly being warned about the horrible things

that will happen or are already happening as a result of mankind's use of fossil fuels. But theseominous predictions are based on computer models. It is important to distinguish between

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what the climate is actually doing and what computer models predict. The observed response

of the climate to more CO2 is not in good agreement with model predictions.

We need high-quality climate science because of the importance of climate to mankind. But

we should also remember the description of how science works by the late, great physicist,

Richard Feynman: "In general we look for a new law by the following process. First we guess

it. Then we compute the consequences of the guess to see what would be implied if this law

that we guessed is right. Then we compare the result of the computation to nature, with

experiment or experience; compare it directly with observation, to see if it works. If it

disagrees with experiment it is wrong." The most important component of climate science iscareful, long-term observations of climate-related phenomena, from space, from land, and in

the oceans. If observations do not support code predictionslike more extreme weather, or

rapidly rising global temperaturesFeynman has told us what conclusions to draw about the

theory.

Mr. Happer is a professor of physics at Princeton. online.wsj.com

Easternight,thenightofthenewcreationDear Brothers and Sisters,

Easter is the feast of the new creation. Jesus is

risen and dies no more. He has opened the door to

a new life, one that no longer knows illness anddeath. He has taken mankind up into God himself.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of

God, as Saint Paul says in the First Letter to the

Corinthians (15:50). On the subject of Christs

resurrection and our resurrection, the Church

writer Tertullian in the third century was bold

enough to write: Rest assured, flesh and blood,

through Christ you have gained your place in

heaven and in the Kingdom of God (CCL II,

994). A new dimension has opened up for

mankind. Creation has become greater and

broader. Easter Day ushers in a new creation, butthat is precisely why the Church starts the liturgy

on this day with the old creation, so that we can

learn to understand the new one aright. At the

beginning of the Liturgy of the Word on Easter

night, then, comes the account of the creation of

the world. Two things are particularly important

here in connection with this liturgy. On the one hand, creation is presented as a whole that

includes the phenomenon of time. The seven days are an image of completeness, unfolding in

time. They are ordered towards the seventh day, the day of the freedom of all creatures for

God and for one another. Creation is therefore directed towards the coming together of God

and his creatures; it exists so as to open up a space for the response to Gods great glory, an

encounter between love and freedom. On the other hand, what the Church hears on Easter

night is above all the first element of the creation account: God said, let there be light!

(Gen 1:3). The creation account begins symbolically with the creation of light. The sun and the

moon are created only on the fourth day. The creation account calls them lights, set by God in

the firmament of heaven. In this way he deliberately takes away the divine character that the

great religions had assigned to them. No, they are not gods. They are shining bodies created by

the one God. But they are preceded by the light through which Gods glory is reflected in the

essence of the created being.

What is the creation account saying here? Light makes life possible. It makes encounter

possible. It makes communication possible. It makes knowledge, access to reality and to truth,

possible. And insofar as it makes knowledge possible, it makes freedom and progress possible.

Evil hides. Light, then, is also an expression of the good that both is and creates brightness. Itis daylight, which makes it possible for us to act. To say that God created light means that God

created the world as a space for knowledge and truth, as a space for encounter and freedom, as

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a space for good and for love. Matter is fundamentally good, being itself is good. And evil

does not come from God-made being, rather, it comes into existence only through denial. It is

a no.

At Easter, on the morning of the first day of the week, God said once again: Let there be

light. The night on the Mount of Olives, the solar eclipse of Jesus passion and death, the

night of the grave had all passed. Now it is the first day once again creation is beginning

anew. Let there be light, says God, and there was light: Jesus rises from the grave. Life is

stronger than death. Good is stronger than evil. Love is stronger than hate. Truth is stronger

than lies. The darkness of the previous days is driven away the moment Jesus rises from thegrave and himself becomes Gods pure light. But this applies not only to him, not only to the

darkness of those days. With the resurrection of Jesus, light itself is created anew. He draws all

of us after him into the new light of the resurrection and he conquers all darkness. He is Gods

new day, new for all of us. But how is this to come about? How does all this affect us so that

instead of remaining word it becomes a reality that draws us in? Through the sacrament of

baptism and the profession of faith, the Lord has built a bridge across to us, through which the

new day reaches us. The Lord says to the newly-baptized: Fiat lux let there be light. Gods

new day the day of indestructible life, comes also to us. Christ takes you by the hand. From

now on you are held by him and walk with him into the light, into real life. For this reason the

early Church called baptismphotismos illumination.

Why was this? The darkness that poses a real threat to mankind, after all, is the fact that he can

see and investigate tangible material things, but cannot see where the world is going or

whence it comes, where our own life is going, what is good and what is evil. The darkness

enshrouding God and obscuring values is the real threat to our existence and to the world in

general. If God and moral values, the difference between good and evil, remain in darkness,

then all other lights, that put such incredible technical feats within our reach, are not only

progress but also dangers that put us and the world at risk. Today we can illuminate our cities

so brightly that the stars of the sky are no longer visible. Is this not an image of the problems

caused by our version of enlightenment? With regard to material things, our knowledge and

our technical accomplishments are legion, but what reaches beyond, the things of God and the

question of good, we can no longer identify. Faith, then, which reveals Gods light to us, is the

true enlightenment, enabling Gods light to break into our world, opening our eyes to the true

light.Dear friends, as I conclude, I would like to add one more thought about light and illumination.

On Easter night, the night of the new creation, the Church presents the mystery of light using a

unique and very humble symbol: the Paschal candle. This is a light that lives from sacrifice.

The candle shines inasmuch as it is burnt up. It gives light, inasmuch as it gives itself. Thus

the Church presents most beautifully the paschal mystery of Christ, who gives himself and so

bestows the great light. Secondly, we should remember that the light of the candle is a fire.

Fire is the power that shapes the world, the force of transformation. And fire gives warmth.

Here too the mystery of Christ is made newly visible. Christ, the light, is fire, flame, burning

up evil and so reshaping both the world and ourselves. Whoever is close to me is close to the

fire, as Jesus is reported by Origen to have said. And this fire is both heat and light: not a cold

light, but one through which Gods warmth and goodness reach down to us.

The great hymn of the Exsultet, which the deacon sings at the beginning of the Easter liturgy,

points us quite gently towards a further aspect. It reminds us that this object, the candle, has its

origin in the work of bees. So the whole of creation plays its part. In the candle, creation

becomes a bearer of light. But in the mind of the Fathers, the candle also in some sense

contains a silent reference to the Church,. The cooperation of the living community of

believers in the Church in some way resembles the activity of bees. It builds up the

community of light. So the candle serves as a summons to us to become involved in the

community of the Church, whose raison dtre is to let the light of Christ shine upon the

world. Let us pray to the Lord at this time that he may grant us to experience the joy of his

light; let us pray that we ourselves may become bearers of his light, and that through the

Church, Christs radiant face may enter our world (cf.LG 1). Amen.

www.vatican.va
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.htmlhttp://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html

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