chosen through the eyes of mercycolomboarchdiocesancatholicpress.com/archive/2018... · 7/22/2018...

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July 25

“Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the fl ock of my pasture, says the LORD” (Jeremiah 23,1)

Sunday July 22, 2018 Vol 149 No 27 24 Pages Rs: 30.00 Registered as a newspaper

“ R E G I S T E R E D I N T H E D E PA RT M E N T O F P O S T S O F S R I L A N K A” U N D E R N O. Q D / 7 4 / N E W S / 2 0 1 8

THE CATHOLIC WEEKLY OF SRI LANKA

ST. JAMES APOSTLE

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ARCHBISHOP OF COLOMBO CLARIFIESMy attention has been drawn to reports and com-

ments appearing in the print and social media concerning an interview I have given on the decision by His Excellency the President and the Cabinet, to in-troduce a limited application of the death penalty to certain types of prisoners, whose activities are detri-mental to national security, safety and the concerns of the future generations. Unfortunately, especially in the English lan-guage media, the interview given in the Sinhala lan-guage and which appeared in the Lankadeepa newspa-per of 13th July 2018 has not been correctly studied and presented and thus the public seems to have thought that I am in favour of the death penalty in general. What I stated on this matter if it is translated in English is as follows: “It has been reported in the News Paper media that some of the prisoners condemned to death and presently residing in the prisons are organiz-

ing activities of criminality from the prisons”. Then I said “we should condemn this kind of action as unacceptable. Here, there seems to be two questions that emerge. The

first one concerns the whole complex of the prisons, the ministry and the officials in charge of the prisons. If all these institutions are fulfilling their responsibilities well, how could such activities originate from the pris-ons? It was reported that once an underworld criminal condemned to the prison and taken there by the guards had been carried on the shoulders of the other prison-ers in a kind of welcoming ceremony in the prison. Who is authorizing and giving them permission to do such things? We express our surprise about such activities taking place in the prison. How could such things hap-pen where there are prison officials and those respon-sible for the administration? I believe, therefore, that an inquiry needs to be held and a proper reform of the pris-ons be carried out. It is the responsibility of our political leadership. We always treat with kindness our prisoners

(From left to right) Rev. Fr. Ranjith Andradi, Rev. Fr. Jude Samantha Fernandopulle, Rev. Fr. Erinton Silva, Rev. Fr. Bernard Nishan Wilathgamuwa and Rev. Fr. Desiquad Bernard Aloysius Reyhart.

Pic. T. Sunil Fernando and Roshan Pradeep

The Team, designated as ‘The Little Flower of Jesus’ of the Archdiocese of Colombo, emerged champions of the Bible Quiz Final 2018, organised by Verbum TV. Picture shows the winners – Ryan Perera (Team Leader), Devmini Jayasiri, Sanuji Perera and Nethmi Roshana receiving the Trophy from the Chief Guest, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Co-lombo. Also in the picture are Milan de Silva, Chairman of Verbum TV, Mallika de Silva, Director of Verbum TV and Vasantha Jayasuriya, a benefactor. In his speech, His Eminence highlighted ‘Lex orandi, Lex credendi, Lex vi-vendi’ (As we worship, so we believe, so we live).

“Find Saints Next Door”◗ Marriage Enrichment Programme

Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith exhorted the married couples to look for saints not only in the Liturgical Calendar but among the next door neighbours. His Eminence was addressing more than 500 married couples who attended a one day

T E L E C A S TThe Marriage Enrichment Programme held at St. Peter’s College, Colombo last Sunday will be telecast on Verbum TV on Saturday July 21, at 9.30 am.

Chosen through the Eyes of Mercy Little Flower of Jesus blossoms

Called by the Lord in loveThe death occurred under trag-ic circumstances of Rev. Fr. War-nakulasuriya Nilan Prasanga Fernando S.J., on July 12 at Mad-ampe. He was 35-years-old. Born on May 26, 1983 he served as a deacon for two months at St. Sebastian's Church,

The Infant Jesus Church at Polgahahena, Hapugoda, Kandana celebrated the Silver Jubilee last Sunday with the Festive Mass, celebrated by His Lordship Rt. Rev. Dr. J. D. Anthony Jayakody, Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo.

Silver Jubilee of Polgahahena

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Ad multos annos!“I wish all of them our best wishes and sincere congratulations and assure them of our sincere appreciation of the labour of love they have put into the mission in our Archdiocese. I wish each and every one of them Ad Multos Annos!”

His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith (SEE PAGE 5)

25Years

Text: Francis Madiwela Pic: Roshan Pradeep

Pic. T. Sunil Fernando and Roshan Pradeep

2 The Messenger July 22, 2018

Relic of the Holy Cross in Procession

Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Car-dinal Ranjith blessed and declared open for wor-ship, the Blessed Sacrament Chapel at St. Anthony’s Church, Kongodamulla recently. Addressing the faithful, His Eminence said that St. Paul by his preaching of the Risen Christ was instrumental in turning Christianity from a sprout of Judaism to a global faith. It was he who also showed that we who receive the Body of Christ, should not profane the Body but be worthy of it. His Eminence said that taking St. Anthony as an example we can journey in our faith to achieve the state of Sainthood. Text: Rev. Sr. Nimali

Pic: H.A. Caldera

“Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people” (Jeremiah 23,2)

Archdiocesan Priests' Retreat 2018 - Kandy

Date: August 6 - August 10Preacher: Rev. Fr. Alvin Peter Fernando

1. Rev Fr. Sunil Kumar Peiris2. Rev Fr Milan Asantha Bernard 3. Rev Fr. Chanaka Dilan Jansz4. Rev. Fr. Thilina Pathum Fernando5. Rev. Fr. Shasika Manoj Rodrigo6. Rev. Fr. Noel Shanaka Dilhara Mendis 7. Rev. Fr. Ruwan Tharaka Alwis8. Rev. Fr. Anthony Nishan Poobalarayan9. Rev. Fr. Rasika Lawrence De Silva10. Rev. Fr. Reshmi Suresh Chinthaka11. Rev. F.r Don Rajitha Liyanage 12. Rev. Fr. Asanka Malan Mendis 13. Rev. Fr. Kamal Niroshan Nishantha Fernando14. Rev. Fr. Dinush Gayan Winston15. Rev. Fr. Anton Suranga Warnakulasuriya16. Rev. Fr. Mahes Crishantha Fernando 17. Rev. Fr. Nuwan Nilanga Rowel18. Rev. Fr. Malith Thiwantha Kaluarachchi19. Rev. Fr. Sumith Roshan Rodrigo20. Rev. Fr. Nuwan Chaturanga Perera21. Rev. Fr. Ananda Withana22. Rev. Fr. Sachitha Perera23. Rev. Fr. Chaminda Roshan Fernando24. Rev. Fr. Ranjith Andradi 25. Rev. Fr. B. A. Shiran26. Rev. Fr. Roshan Janaka Fernando27. Rev. Fr. Ananda Fernandopulle28. Rev. Fr. Priyan Subasinghe 29. Rev. Fr. Malin Samurdika Fernando 30. Rev. Fr. Gayan Pranneth31. Rev. Fr. Jude Nuwan Buddhika32. Rev. Fr. Samith Kumara Neththasinghe33. Rev. Fr. Prasanna Dilruk Fernando34. Rev. Fr. Janaka Sasimal Costa

All priest are kindly requested to be punctual.

Rev. Fr. Patrick Perera

Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Car-dinal Ranjith presided at the Vespers Service of St. Anthony’s Church, Pubudugama in the Uswetakei-yawa Parish, recently. Addressing the faithful His Eminence re-minded them that as Catholics, we should live a life praiseworthy of God, in the love of Christ. In the same way if we want to walk the path of Saints, we need to give up our negative attitudes and behav-iour, free ourselves from dishonest actions, incon-siderate behaviour and secular thinking. The participants at the Vespers Service were former Parish Priests, Rev. Fr. Freddie Shan-thikumar, Rev. Fr. Ivan Pietersz and Rev. Fr. Nimal Jayantha. Prior to the commencement of the Vespers Service, His Eminence blessed and declared open

the newly built Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in the Church premises.

Text: Anton Jayasuriya Pic: Pasqual Jayamanna

Silver jubilee celebrations at Pubudugama

Feast of the Most Precious Blood

Rev. Fr. Francis Jayakody, Parish Priest Pamunugama blesses the flagstaff before hoisting, to herald the 150th Jubilee Feast of the Most Precious Blood which took place on July 1.

Benjamin Kirihetti

At the literary contest organised by the Interna-tional General Council of the Society of St. Vincent De Paul titled, ‘The First Conference’ held last year, the Sri Lankan participant Ms. Lusanthi Fernando, member of the SVP of St. Lawrence’s Church, Wella-watte clinched second place. The aim of the contest was to stimulate and develop knowledge and research on the persons who founded the first Society of Vincent De Paul in 1833. The topic for the year 2017 was ‘Emmanuel Bailly, the first President of the first Conference'. Cherryl Silva

International SVP Literary Contest

Blessing of Blessed Sacrament Chapel

The meeting of the Cath-olic National Commission for Education, Catechet-ics and Bible Apostolate was held at the Pastoral

Education, Catechetics and Bible Apostolate meeting

The Relic of the Holy Cross was taken in procession after the Vespers Service at the Feast of the Most Precious Blood in the Pamunugama Parish. Picture shows His Lordship, Rt. Rev. Dr. Harold Anthony Perera Bishop of Kurunegala and Priest-son of Pa-munugama, leading the procession with the Relic. Benjamin Kirihetti

Monks gift Cross

The little Chapel dedicated to St. Anthony at Mayura Place, Colombo 5 belonging to the Wellawatte Par-ish, celebrated its Feast recently. Among those pres-ent at the celebrations were some Buddhist Priests in the area. Picture shows the Venerable Monks present-ing a cross to the Parish Priest, Very Rev. Fr. Manoku-maran Nagaratnam. S.B. David

Centre, Uppuweli in the Diocese of Trincomalee recently. The meeting was presided by Their Lordships Rt. Rev. Dr.

Maxwell Silva, Chairman of the Commission and Rt. Rev. Dr. Noel Emman-uel, Vice Chairman. Present on the

occasion were all Dioc-esan Directors and rep-resentatives of Diocesan Centres. A seminar for staff members of the Di-ocesan Centres was also held in Sinhala and Tamil. The meeting was or-ganised by Very Rev. Fr. Piyal Janaka Fernando, National Director for Catechetics and Bible Apostolate and staff.

Jude RavindraNational Catechetical

Centre


Church in the Modern World

“You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds” (Jeremiah 23,2)

"None of us must feel 'superior' to anyone. None of us should look down at others from above. The only time we can look at a person in this way is when we are help-ing them to stand up," Pope Francis told new and old cardinals during a ceremony in which he elevated 14 bishops and archbishops from 11 different nations to the College of Cardinals on June 28. The ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica began with Pope Francis, wearing a miter and carrying the pastoral staff of retired Pope Benedict XVI, leading a procession of the soon-to-be cardinals in their new red robes. Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako of Baghdad, gave thanks on behalf of all the new cardinals who have been "called to serve the Church and all peo-ple with an even greater love." The 69-year-old patriarch, whose country has lost an estimated one million of what had been 1.5 mil-lion Christians over the years of war, violence by ex-tremist militants and economic insecurity, thanked the Pope for his special attention to the plight and struggle of "the tiny flock" of Christians throughout the Middle East. "We pray and hope that your efforts to promote peace will change the hearts of men and women for the better and help the world become a more dignified place for all people, the patriarch said. The Pope told the cardinals in his homily that their

mission is to remember to stay focused on Christ, who al-ways ministered and led the way, unperturbed by his dis-ciples' infighting, jealousies, failings and compromises. On the road to Jerusalem, as the disciples were locked in useless and petty discussions, Jesus walks ahead yet tells them forcefully, when it comes to lording it over others, "it shall not be so among you; whoever would be great among you must be your servant." What good is it, the Pope asked, to gain the whole world if we are corroded within or "living in a sti-fling atmosphere of intrigues that dry up our hearts and impede our mission, including those palace intrigues in curial offices. "But it shall not be so among you," the Lord says, because their eyes, heart and resources must be dedicated to the only thing that counts: the mission, the Pope said. He said personal conversion and Church re-form are always missionary and demands that looking out for and protecting one's own interests be stopped, so that looking out for and protecting what God cares about remains the priority. Letting go of sins and selfishness means grow-ing in fidelity and willingness to embrace the mission so that when we see the distress of our brothers and sis-ters, we will be completely prepared to accompany and embrace them instead of being roadblocks... because of

our short-sightedness or our useless wrangling about who is most important, the pope said. "The Church's authority grows with this ability to defend the dignity of others, to anoint them and to heal their wounds and their frequently dashed hopes. It means remembering that we are here because we have been asked 'to preach good news to the poor ... to pro-claim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed," he said. "Dear brother cardinals and new cardinals, the 'Lord walks ahead of us, to keep reminding us that the only credible form of authority is born of sitting at the feet of others in order to serve Christ," the Pope said. "This is the highest honour that we can receive, the greatest promotion that can be awarded us: Christ in God's faithful people. In those who are hungry, ne-glected, imprisoned, sick, suffering, addicted to drugs, cast aside," he said. After the consistory, Pope Francis and the new cardinals visited retired Pope Benedict in the Mater Ec-clesiae Monastery, his residence in the Vatican Gardens. With the new members, the College of Cardi-nals numbered 226, with 125 of them under 80-years-old and eligible to vote in a conclave. With this consis-tory, Pope Francis has created almost half of the voting cardinals. Courtesy: Sunday Examinar

Credible leadership serves others

German Bishops resume inter-Communion

debate

The German Bishops' Conference published the Ori-entation Guide in the Responsibility of Individual

Bishops on June 27 despite Pope Francis asking them this past May not to publish, deeming that the docu-ment "has not matured enough to b2e published (Sun-day Examiner, June 10). According to Dom Radio, the official news site of the Diocese of Cologne, the guide is the same hand-out that the bishops' conference developed in February, but with a different title. However, the document is not readily available for public viewing. The Bishops said that when the conference meet in September, they will continue to examine the is-sue of Communion for Protestant spouses of Catholics. Pope Francis clarified his position on the mat-ter during a flight from Geneva to Rome on June 21, say-ing that the problem was not the subject matter of the debate, but rather the bishops' approach to creating new norms for the German Catholic Church at a national level. He said the guidelines went beyond what is foreseen by the Code of Canon Law "and there is the problem." The code does not provide for nationwide poli-cies but "provides for the bishop of the diocese (to make a decision on each case), not the bishops' conference," the Pope pointed out. But the German Bishops said the text of their pastoral handout does "not appear as a document of the bishops' conference, given that it also relates to a dimension of the Universal Church," and that the text is "within the responsibility of individual bish-ops as an aid to orientation." Reinhard Cardinal Marx of Munich and Freising, president of the German Bishops' Conference, said there were several reasons why the Bishops decided to move forward with their plans to address the matter as a nation-al conference. He cited a May 25 letter from the Congrega-tion for the Doctrine of the Faith which he said provided "indications and a framework for interpretation." The Bishops said they were on a quest to achieve Christian unity and believe themselves obliged to stride forward in this matter courageously. They cited their previous reasons for examin-ing the issue and stated that they are still intent on pur-suing questions related to individual cases on a national level. "The topic is to be explored in greater detail. We would like to offer the Holy Father and the Roman Curia our assistance in this matter," the satement said.

SE

Luis Anto-nio Cardinal Ta-gle, Archbishop of Manila, said "freedom is fake" be-cause people are "toying around with justice" amid the spate of killings in the country as Church leaders in the Philippines railed against the attacks and killings of members of the clergy in recent months. "We repeat: It is against the will of God to destroy life. Killing is not a solution to personal and societal problems," said the cardinal in his Phili-ippine Independence Day message on June 12. The Philippines marked its 120th Indepen-dence Day two days after assassins shot and killed Father Richmond Villaflor Nilo at Nuestra Senora dela Nieve chapel in the baran-gay of Mayamot, Zaragoza, in Nueva Ecija. Cardinal Tagle appealed to Filipinos to "seek God's forgiveness for our sins against life." To honour the memory and pray for those who died, the Car-

dinal ordered church bells to be rung at eight o'clock every evening. Archbishop So-crates Villegas of Lingay-en-Dagupan, condemned the killing of Father Nilo, which the Catholic Bish-ops' Conference of the Philippines earlier de-nounced as "outrageously evil." The Archbishop said in statement: "They are killing our flock. They are killing us shepherds. They are killing our faith. They are cursing our Church. They are killing God again as they did in Calvary," He called on the president, Rodrigo Du-terte, "to stop the verbal persecution of the Catho-lic Church because such attacks can wittingly embolden more crimes against priests." Church leaders declared June 18, the ninth day following the death of Father Nilo, as a Day of Reparation with Masses to be offered "for the sins of blasphemy against God, the sins of sac-rilege and calumny hurled

against our priests and bishops, the murders that continue without relent." Church bells in Lingayen-Dagupan rang for 15 minutes at six o'clock in the evening of June 18 to mark the time Father Nilo was killed. The image of the dead Christ or the Black Nazarene will also be brought out in procession in parishes. "We are not afraid. We trust in the Lord. We are ready to bat-tle for God's honour," read a statement from the cler-gy of Lingayen-Dagupan. "They want to bury us priests. But they forget that we priests are seeds. When you bury us, we will grow more and flourish. You can not stop the Gospel from growing,' they added. "The bloodied soil is crying to heaven for justice. God's justice be upon those who kill the Lord's anointed ones. There is a special place in hell for killers. There is a worse place for those who

kill priests," the statement read. The presidential palace has ordered the Philippine National Police to prioritise the investi-gation into the killing of Father Nilo who was the third priest and the sec-ond in Nueva Ecija prov-ince to be killed in the past three months. Father Mark Ven-tura was gunned down after celebrating Mass in Gattaran, Cagayan prov-ince, in April while Father Marcelito Paez, was killed a few hours after assist-ing the release of a politi-cal prisoner in Jaen town, also in Nueva Ecija, in De-cember 2017.

SE

Pope Francis on July 14 appointed presidents-delegate for the Synod of Bishops scheduled from October 3 to 28 in the Vatican. Pope appointed four cardinals as presidents-delegate for the XV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which has as its theme, ‘Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment’.

The presidents-delegate are:Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael I Sako of Babylon (Iraq)Cardinal Désiré Tsarahazana, Archbishop of Toamasina (Madagascar)

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo SDB., Archbishop of Yangon (Myanmar)Cardinal John Ribat MSC, Archbishop of Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) The presidents-delegate take turns in presid-ing over the synod assemblies on behalf of the Pope. A president-delegate is responsible for guiding the work of the synod and assigning special tasks to certain mem-bers, when necessary, so that the assembly proceeds ef-ficiently. He also signs the documents of the assembly. When there are several presidents-delegate, they all sign the final documents of the synod.

Vatican News

Pope appoints presidents-delegate for Synod on young people

Philippine Church leaders denounce killing of Priests


“I myself will gather the remnant of my fl ock from all the lands to which I have driven them” (Jeremiah 23,3)

BiTS &PiECES

By Ariel

Health relatedIssues in Sri Lanka

By Dr. Maxie FernandopulleEmail:[email protected]:[email protected]

The commonest reason for a child to get a fit is fever. It is called a febrile fit or a febrile convul-sion. When a child gets fever the most worrying

thought for a young parent is that the child may get a fit or a convulsion. The most important thing is not to worry. In majority of instances the fever with a fit is not a worrying problem. It will not harm the child... You can leave the child alone. Provide the (A.B.C. AIRWAY, BREATHING AND CIRCULATION). Is the airway clear? Is he breathing? Is the heart beating? This can easily be observed. Keep the child ly-ing with the left side down. Keep the neck extended. Is the heart beating? Are there chest movements? He will make some jerky movements of the limbs. He will be stiff for a while. After that he will be absolutely normal. By the time you get a three wheeler or your driver for the car he will be normal. The fit will last a few minutes. The mother needs treatment to relax and not the child. She is worried and shocked which is understandable. This is called the typical or the simple febrile convulsion or simple fever fit. It occurs within the first twenty four hours of the fever in a child aged between 4 to 5 months’ to 5 to 6 years. It will be at the onset of the fever. Often the first sign of fever will be the fit. It will be within the first 24 hours after the onset of fever. It will last only a few minutes. By the time the mother stops crying the fit is over. It will not repeat itself. It will not take place after the first twenty four hours of the onset of fever. The child will get a fit only once for one episode of fever. It is called a typical or simple febrile fit. ATYPICAL FEBRILE FIT. This is something different and worrying. The fit will occur even after 24 hours of the onset of fever. It will last more than a few min-utes often 10 to 15 minutes. Often more than one fit for one episode of fever. There will be an altered level

of consciousness. That means after the fit he will not respond to pain and commands. This is a complicated febrile convulsion also called an 'atypical febrile con-vulsion.' It may be a manifestation of an infection inside the skull bones, like meningitis or encephalitis. He has to be inside a children’s ward in a hospital; where spe-cial investigations like examining of the brain water by lumbar puncture needs to be done.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO? Main thing is do not panic. Keep the child with the left side down, sideways on to the bed. Extend the neck. Clear any spit. Is he breathing normally which he often will do? Do not push anything inside the mouth. No spoon handles forcibly pushed in-side the mouth to prevent the tongue been bitten. You will break a tooth by pushing a handle of the spoon between the tightly clenched teeth. A broken tooth is more serious and very difficult to replace than a bitten tongue. A bitten tongue will be normal in few days. It is very difficult to join up a broken tooth which the moth-er is responsible for by pushing forcibly the handle of the spoon. In case you broke a tooth do not throw it to the squirrel but take the child and the piece of bone to the dentist. Do not put anything inside the mouth of a fitting child. You will kill him by choking him. What you forcibly gave will go into the breathing passage and he will not be able to breathe. If not he will aspirate it and get a pneumonia. Do not give even a paracetamol tab-let or syrup . Give a tepid sponge. If a child has had fits before give paracetamol to control the fever before he gets a fit. A well informed doctor can give a drug called diazepam to an intelligent mother to be given rectally to prevent a fit. A simple febrile fit will never kill a child. Just watch and wait. A fit without fever is always a serious problem.

It is likely to be epilepsy. It is a recurrent disease. It will manifest in different ways. Instead of the familiar jerking and tightening of the limbs there may be other manifestation. Like staring at you without breathing. Or doing an unusual, unacceptable activity like spitting often or passing urine in public. This activity should be observed carefully, preferably film it and tell a well informed doctor all the details. He will listen to you. Watch the film and do any investigations like an E.E.G. and scanning. He will come to a diagnosis and likely start on a drug to be taken every day. There are different types of drugs for each type. You may have to take more than one. Go and see a neurologist. He will guide you. See him when he re-quests you to come. To begin with frequently, then less often. Do not ever stop the drug till he tells you and it will have to be tapered down. It is a curable disease. Unfortunately there is a social stigma attached to it. But you can do any job. There was an English cricket captain and a Professor of Surgery who were epileptics. They lived a normal life. There are a few things an epileptic should not do. Do not tell anyone you are an epileptic. Not even the teachers of your child. Tell the teacher that he gets fainting attacks. If it happens keep him horizontal, loosen the clothes, keep him in a horizontal postion with head lowered and telephone you. He cannot go swimming alone. Cannot cycle alone on the main road. Cannot climb trees. Cannot use sharp cutting weapons alone. Cannot cook by himself. He should always sleep with another person. Fits are commoner in the night. If he forgets a dose of the drug take twice the quantity next time. He can marry and have children. There are certain precipitating factors like watching television, during monthly menstruation periods, starvation. Be more careful at these times. Do not starve. Do not tell anyone outside the family.

CONVULSIONS (FITS IN A CHILD)

A pre-school teach-er lamented that most of her pupils

were being sent to tuition classes by their parents to make them have a head start for the grade five scholarship examinations. Some of these children who are three or four years of age have more than seven years to sit for this examination. She said that these poor parents should not push these children to cram letters and numbers at this early stage of their develop-ment. Instead these chil-dren should be allowed to play, run about and learn social skills with the peers of their own age group. Modern psy-chologists emphasize that children as growing hu-man beings must have an overall development and the parents and teachers must not concentrate only on mental or psychic de-velopment. They say that our education system is

geared towards the devel-opment of the psyche and teachers, parents and the system of education must concentrate also on physi-cal, emotional and moral development of the chil-dren. Play and inter-action with peers of the same age group are im-portant for their emotion-al development. Religious upbringing, whatever religion that the child be-longs to, is essential to form a moral conscience. Even on Sundays and Poya days which are allo-cated for “Daham Pasal” or religious instructions are taken up by the tuition classes. The children do not learn anything about ethical or moral values. Religious leaders of the country, including the Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, have urged the President and the present government to ban tuition classes on

Sundays and Poya days. The present sys-tem of education is devel-oping a future generation which will have a lopsided psychic development. It creates individuals with developed mental capaci-ties but the other aspects of human beings such as the physical, emotional and moral development is totally neglected. Without physical development or awareness of healthy so-cial living, they will end up as physically and emotion-ally unhealthy individuals. Without moral and ethical values they will end up as self-centered individuals without any qualms of conscience. They will not understand the difference between corruption and honesty, love (“maithri”) and hatred.

Tuition Culture: Big Business At a media con-ference last week His Eminence Malcolm Car-

dinal Ranjith lashed out at the so-called tuition culture. He pointed out that the present system of education is geared solely towards intellectual de-velopment and it is inef-ficient and cannot cater to the needs of the children resulting in them being forced to have recourse to tuition masters and mis-tresses. Parents invest enormous amounts of money to send children to schools and spend more money in sending them to tuition classes. His Eminence narrated that a popular tuition master was charg-ing Rs 1,300 per month for one subject and he had more than 2000 students in each tuition class. This teacher used multime-dia screens to cater to all these students. When we calculate the amount of money this individual was earning, it added up to Rs. 2,600,000/- from one subject per month. His

Eminence also mentioned inculcating ethical and moral values in the hearts and minds of children. The requests of religious lead-ers to ban tuition classes on Poya days and Sundays have fallen on the deaf ears of the politicians. His Eminence pointed to the fact that parents send children from outstations to popu-lar Colombo schools for their education. Besides paying the normal schools that the children attend they also have to spend money on long distance buses and vans to trans-port their children to city schools. This makes the children wake up around 3 or 4 AM. When we calcu-late the time they go home after their school hours, plus the time allocated for tuition, many of these growing children are de-prived of enough sleeping time. Attempts to improve the standards of education in the village schools are

limited to lip service. This government has appointed so many Presidential Commissions to investigate myriads of relevant as well as irrele-vant issues. It is high time that the intellectuals who are involved in education in this country, politicians from all political parties and colours, teachers and parents form a commis-sion to plan out a better strategy to improve our deteriorating system of education. Every elector-ate of the country should have a decent school with all modern facilities for overall development of the children. Parents should not have to spend extra money on tuition and long distance transport to give their children a holistic education.

Tuition Classes

Rev. Fr. Desiquad Bernard Aloysius Reyhart Parish: NittambuwaMinistry: Assistant at Toppuwa, Kotahena and Ragama; Parish Priest at Madampella, Beruwela, St. Andrew’s Mutwal and BollathaPresently: Chaplain for Sri Lankan Migrants in Italy

Rev. Fr. Bernard Nishan WilathgamuwaParish: TalangamaMinistry: Assistant at Moratuwa, Ragama and Pitipana;Parish Priest at Ratmalana, Kanuwana, Pamunugama, Batagama, Dehiyagatha and RaddolugamaPresently: Parish Priest at Kepungoda

Rev. Fr. Erinton SilvaParish: KelaniyaMinistry: Assistant at Hanwella and Grand Street; Parish Priest at Kalutara, Horana, Sea Street and BopitiyaPresently: Parish Priest at Dehiyagatha

Rev. Fr. Ranjith AndradiParish: PayagalaMinistry: Assistant at Grand Street and Dehiwela; Primary/ Middle School Principal, St. Joseph’s College, Colombo; Rector, St. Joseph’s College Branch School

Wattala, Loyola College, Negombo and St. Joseph’s College Branch School Negombo Presently: Rector, St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa

Rev. Fr. Jude Samantha FernandopulleParish: ToppuwaMinistry: Assistant at Kelaniya, Nayakakanda, Wattala and Palangaturai; Parish Priest at Kattuwa, Kimbulapitiya and Katunayake; Chaplain for Sri Lankan Migrants in Italy (Treviso-Venice); Assistant Director, Colombo Catholic PressPresently: Staff, St. Peter’s College, Colombo

Sacerdotal Silver Jubilarians 2018 - Archdiocese of ColomboContd. from Pg. 1


“… and bring them back to their meadow; there they shall increase and multiply” (Jeremiah 23,3)

Correcting others, a work of mercy The works of mercy are defined as charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2447). Living the command-ment of charity demands doing concrete acts of love. We do “not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth (1 John. 3:18).” It may not be the easiest expression of love but we when we look upon others with affec-tion, we will often notice how we can help them with friendly advice. We will tell them in con-fidence what others have per-haps seen but did not have the loyalty to tell them. The more comfortable path would be to say nothing when we notice that someone has acted in the wrong way. However, those who truly love never miss the opportu-nity to make corrections. Good parents correct their children whenever it is needed. A caring friend does the same with his or her colleagues. For our correction and criticism to be useful and con-structive, it has to stem from charity: “when you have to correct, you should do so with charity, at the opportune mo-ment, without humiliating. And being ready yourself to learn and to improve in the very faults you are correcting (The Forge, 455).” The key to helping others change is in a certain

sense linked to our own ability to change and improve in our own life. Or else we will hear Jesus’ reproach: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye (Matthew. 7:3)?” When we ap-preciate how hard it is for us to change and improve, and yet how important and liberating that effort is, we find it easier to see others objectively and help them effectively. Those who can speak the truth clearly to them-selves will know how and when to do so with others, and will be open to listening to others who tell things clearly to them. It is proof of human maturity, spiritual depth and wisdom to be able to receive and accept constructive criticism. We read in the Book of Proverbs: “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates re-proof is stupid” (Proverbs 12:1). Nevertheless, accepting what others tell us does not mean be-ing influenced by every possible criticism of our professional or social affairs. If we “danced to every tune” that others raise about what we are or do, we would worry ourselves sick. At times people who are working for the good are much criticised, perhaps by those who them-selves are doing very little, and who see their life and work as an indictment of their own (cf. Wisdom 2:10-20); or perhaps because they are seen as an “enemy” by those who act dif-ferently. And sometimes even those who carry out the same or similar deeds may criticise others out of jealousy.

At times we may have to “pardon” others who are doing practically nothing themselves, or those who cannot imagine anything good being accom-plished without them. We then need to follow a modern saint’s advice: “you and I need to keep quiet, pray, work, smile—and wait. Don’t give that foolish-ness any importance. Truly love all those souls (cf. Vázquez de Prada, Andres, The Founder of Opus Dei (III), Scepter Publish-ers: New York, 2005, p. 370).

Responsibility of setting good example Human maturity unites openness to others with fidelity to one’s chosen path in life and guiding principles, even when scarcely an echo of support comes from the surrounding en-vironment. Certainly, any indif-ference we encounter could also be an indication that we our-selves need to change in some area, or to learn how to explain or present things better. But there are some core principles that we should never change, no matter what happens. Re-gardless of whether people lis-ten to us or not, praise or insult us, thank or reject us, approve or disapprove: “and that con-trast—because you’re confirm-ing your faith with works— is exactly the naturalness I ask of you (The Way, 380).” It is not unusual for a person to feel alone and unaid-ed when undertaking great en-deavours. The temptation then to give up can be very strong. Someone might even think that their example and witness is of little value. But this isn’t so;

perhaps a match cannot light up a whole room, but everyone in the room can see the light. Perhaps many people feel inca-pable of following the example being given, but in their heart of hearts they would like to, and thus are stirred to aim for high-er goals. We can all recall how much the good example of so many people has helped us to improve. And yet most of these people probably don’t realise the effect they’ve had on our life. We have a big responsibil-ity to try to exert a positive in-fluence on others. “You must not destroy, through your ne-glect or bad example, the souls of your fellow men and women (The Forge, 955).” We need to speak, give advice, exhort and encourage others. But above all we must back up our words with deeds, through the testi-mony of our own life. While it is impossible for us to always do so, we should aim at assisting everyone, and ask sincerely for forgiveness if we have failed in some way.

Battle of a lifetime against pride Life is a work in prog-ress. We are always in a posi-tion to grow in virtues until we reach the “mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians. 4:13).” To grow in identification with Christ we need to decrease in our love of self or pride, for “He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30).” Conse-quently, openness to others is closely united to our progress in the lifelong battle to unmask

the face of pride and grow in humility. Pride seeps into the most surprising nooks and crannies of our relationships with others. Were it to rear its ugly head openly, we would see how repulsive it is; so one of its most typical subterfuges is to conceal or mask its face. Pride often hides itself under another, seemingly positive trait, which it subtly contaminates. And when pride has set down deep roots, its simpler and more ba-sic manifestations appear, signs of an immature personality: an unhealthy oversensitivity; con-stantly speaking about oneself; vanity and affectation in one’s gestures and way of speaking; an arrogant or conceited atti-tude, combined with deep dis-couragement upon perceiving one’s own weaknesses. Love of self has count-less masquerades. Sometimes pride can disguise itself as wis-dom, with an intellectual pride shown in the need to always be rigorously right. At other times it hides behind a passionate zeal for justice and defense of the truth, under which lie the desire to “get back at” others, or an arrogant “orthodoxy” that seeks to dominate them. What one is really seeking is to con-trol everything, to be the judge of everything. These are atti-tudes that, instead of serving the truth, make use of it —of its shadow— in order to feed the desire to stay on top of others. Nobody is perfectly healthy, doctors would say. Similarly, nobody is perfectly-humble.

LIVING FAITHRev. Fr. Daniel Icatlo

MATURITY AND OPENNESS

(Contd on Pg. 15)

Today’s Gospel narrates of Jesus’ compassion for His apostles and as well as for people. We begin our meditation. Having sent the Twelve on mis-

sion, Jesus walks towards the shady glades of Tabgha around the seven springs at Ain Sheva. Often, He spends time in prayer, here. I follow at a distance. I see Jesus en-grossed in prayer. I wonder, ‘What could Jesus be praying about’? He turns around as if He has read my thoughts, and signals me to come to Him. ‘Join me in praying for those whom I have sent forth’, says Jesus. I ask in reply, ‘Lord, you sent them forth. They bear Your authority – the authority of the Son of Man. Is not that enough’? Je-sus says to me, ‘Yes, all authority in heaven and earth has been given unto me, and the apostles bear my au-thority. But we also pray that they who have been sent forth to do marvels in my name, may not after much toil, fall victim to the snares of the prowler. They are good men, but frail in flesh’. So, I spend quality time with Je-sus. He is praying in silence and I keep glancing furtively at Him. I am filled with His aura and totally engrossed in His presence. I wonder whether this is what Jewish sages called contemplation? The hours pass by, yet it seems like a moment. It is soon dusk. I return home but come back the next morning, to be with Jesus. We do not speak much. Jesus remains engrossed in prayer, and I am content to be near Him. I have never experienced such a sense of well being ever before! I have been with Jesus, for almost a week. My

friends come in search of me. I motion them to keep si-lent. One of them whispers to me, ‘What are you doing in this lonely place? Come with us and have some fun!’ I whisper to them in reply, ‘Go away, for now. I shall join you later’. One day, late in the evening, I hear the rustle of feet and the sound of voices. I look back over my shoulder and see the Twelve returning after their first mission. I also see a large crowd following them. The Twelve greet Jesus elatedly, and joyously report back to Him. I watch as they speak animatedly of ‘all they had done and taught’. Jesus smiles; His joy abounds at the magnitude of their accomplishments in word and action. He looks up to heaven and gives thanks saying, ‘Blessed are you, God and Father, for my power finds an extension through the apostolic ministry of those whom I send forth on mission!’ The crowd keeps streaming to-wards Jesus, and soon He is hemmed in by them. The people keep coming in and going out the shady glade we are in. Due to the incessant traffic of people, the Twelve do not have time even to eat. So Jesus offers them rest. He says to them, ‘I know that you are tired. Your exhaus-tion underlines the extent to which my power has been extended throughout the region. Come and rest with me awhile. This rest which you shall experience with me will be a foretaste of the ‘Sabbath rest’ that awaits you in my Kingdom’ (Exodus 33:1-14; Hebrews 4:9-11). I ask Jesus, ‘Lord, may I come along, too’? ‘Yes’, says Jesus,

and I am the first to jump into the boat. We sail away to a deserted place to be by ourselves. But the crowd sees us depart, and they keep running along the shore, to the place where we are going. As we come ashore a great crowd assembles on the shores of the sea. The Twelve look exhausted and so, I walk towards the surging crowd, and say, ‘Please respect their need for privacy. They are tired and need rest’. My plea falls on deaf ears. I am pushed aside by people who rush toward Jesus. The Lord says to the Twelve, ‘They are like sheep without a shepherd. Ask them to sit. I shall teach them about my Father, the Shep-herd of Israel (Zechariah 11:17), and nourish them with my teaching. As the manna given by Moses signified the Torah, my teaching signifies my bread. You too must eat the bread of my teaching in order that you may acquire wisdom’ (Proverbs 9:5). Then Jesus tells the people, ‘I know your works, your labour, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. But though you have persevered, you have grown weary and feel emotionally drained because you have lost your first love for Adonai. Therefore, you must continue to find time to spend with me. It is not enough to come to me for favours. You must also learn from me, and then you shall find rest’

16th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: GOSPEL REFLECTION (Mark 6:30-34) Year BBy Rev. Fr. Nilindra Gunasekera sss


“I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble” (Jeremiah 23,4)

The 276th Death Anniversary of Fr. Jacome Gonsalves falls on July 17, 2018. Indeed he was earmarked by St Joseph Vaz to complete his dream of a truly

Indigenous Church in Ceylon. He gallantly responded to this call and it has been said to his lasting credit that St. Joseph Vaz planted the seed of a 'New Church' in Ceylon over the ashes of the old, while Fr. Jacome Gonsalves watered and nurtured it to what it is today, bearing full fruit. In short, St. Joseph Vaz laid the foundation while Fr. Jacome Gonsalves erected the edifice. An illustrious son of the Island of Divar, off Goa, Jacome was the eldest in the family. His parents Thomas Gonsalves and Mariana De Abrew baptised him on the day he was born on June 8, 1676. The family was one of the earliest converts to Catholicism in the early 16th century, at the beginning of Portuguese rule in Goa. Thus Jacome grew up in a profoundly Catholic atmosphere. At school he was a bright student and from his early childhood he had an ear for music and excelled in playing the violin and the organ. Later, he studied Latin and the Humanities under Fr. Pedro Ferrao, who in course of time was to become the first Parish Priest of Silena-Madhu and in that capacity welcome Fr. Jacome to Ceylon, at the height of the Dutch persecution in August 1705. Subsequently, Jacome entered the Jesuit University of St. Paul in Old Goa and obtained his degree in Arts, at the tender age of 20. He continued his studies in Theology at the Dominican College of St. Thomas Aquinas also in Old Goa, where he held the post of Organist. He completed his theological studies with great distinction. Young Jacome now sensed the ‘Call’ of his Master as his eyes turned towards the newly formed Oratory also in Old Goa. His parents were up in arms against his chosen vocation, as they had spent a tidy sum on his education and expected him in return, to help his siblings. However, no amount of threats or tears would make Jacome change his mind. Very soon he entered the Oratory and was ordained a priest in November 1700, at the age of 24. Shortly afterwards, Jacome spent four years in a cloister, which stood him in good stead for his future missionary activities in Ceylon. Very soon he was offered the post of Professor of Philosophy in the prestigious University of Goa which he politely turned down in preference to entering Ceylon and assist Fr. Joseph Vaz in his missionary endeavours. "There is a Divinity that shapes are ends, Rough - hew them how we will" William Shakespeare

The following, in bare outline is a summary of his extraordinary literary achievements in Ceylon from 1705-1742. The Printing Press was taboo to him. Hence, he employed a dozen Sinhala clerks to copy all his literary works. In keeping with the times, they were written on Ola leaves to be preserved for posterity. Quite a few of them are seen to this day in the sacristy of the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Parrappankandal., north-west of Madhu, the headquarters of the Oratorian Fathers in the 18th century (The Church of Mantota). In a strange twist of coincidence, Fr. Jacome was buried in a Church also dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption in Bolawatta in the Chilaw Diocese. In the backdrop of his literary achievements Fr. Jacome was a linguist par-excellence, being quite fluent in eight languages - English, Latin, Spanish, Portuguese, Konkani (his mother-tongue), Tamil, Dutch and Sinhala, which he mastered at the Malwatte Vihara in Kandy. Fr. Jacome is accredited with 22 books in Sinhala, 15 in Tamil, four in Portuguese and one in Dutch. All his writings were based on the cultural traits of the Island. Thus, he had to his credit a grand total of 42 books to commemorate his 42 years as an Oratorian priest. All his Sinhala writings run into 1,094 folios written on both sides totalling 2,188 pages. This is the most complete manuscript record of his writings so far available. Many local literary Stalwarts such as Tissa Abeysekere, Sunil Ariyaratne and Prof. Tissa Kariyawasam have publicly acknowledged Fr. Jacome's invaluable contribution to Sinhala culture.

Literary 'Works' - Sinhala1. Deva Veda Sanksepaya (Oratorian records)2. Pasan Potha (Dirges-Lamentations) - Chanted to

musical notation.

3. Mangalla Geethiyaya (Canticle for Festivals) - Set to folk music.

4. Deva Parihara (Spiritual Doctor)5. Veda Kavyaya (Divine Canticle) - A Masterpiece in

poetry centred on the Bible.6. Sukrita Darpanaya (Mirror of Virtues) - Instructions

on Spiritual-perfection.7. Sathya Upadesa (Catholic Doctrine)8. Deva Veda Puranaya (Genesis - Apocalypse) -

According to Fr. S. G. Perera this is truly a masterpiece in prose resembling the ‘Pujavaliya.

9. Dharmodyanaya (Garden of Virtues) - Description of 50 Saints.

10. Suvisesha Visandima (Gospels for Sundays/Feast Days) - To be recited by the Elders in the absence of a priest.

11. Matara Prataseya (Illumination of Matara) - His Missionary Life.

12. Deva Neethi Visarjanaya (Divine Jusitce - Last Judgement) - In three Acts - to be sung, not recited.

13. Prasangaya (Passion Sermons in song) - For singing during Lent.

14. Dukprapti Prasangaya and Desana Potha (Nine sermons on the Passion) - Meant to be sung and not read.

15. Ananda Kalippuwa (Canticle of Pleasure) - A poem in 20 verses - refuting worldly pleasures.

16. Agnana Aushadaya (Cure of Ignorance) - Dialogue between a Catholic Priest and a non-Catholic intellectual.

17. Kayaduskara Prarthanava - In rhythmic prose resembling St. Alphonsus Liguori's ‘Graduaciones’.

18. Gnananjanaya (Reflections for Retreats)19. Dharmasangnava (Collection of Spiritual Exercises)

- Both heavenly and earthly.20. Christiani Palliya - Now considered as the oldest

book of Christian Prayers in Sinhala.21. Pratiahary Avalya (Itinerary of Miracles)22. Buddhabana Pratyaksheya.

In addition to the above, he also wrote a number of books refuting the teachings of the Dutch Calvinists, other religions and paganism. His rendition of the Paramandalaya (‘Pater Noster’) to musical notation remains a Classic to this day and equally so is his Maha padhanamaskaraya, the great Way of the Cross, filled with pathos and his classical hymn Daya Wenawa Sunde sung in almost all our churches during Lent and on Good Friday in particular, bear a lasting testimony to this great literary and musical genius. He is also credited with the compiling of the Portuguese-Sinhala/Tamil Dictionary of which only four copies have stood the test of time, the original being lost. One of these is well preserved in the Archdiocesan Archives in Colombo.

Literary Works in Tamil1. Christiani Alleyam (Treasure of Christians) - The

Tamil counterpart of ‘Christiani Palliya’. - Probably, the oldest Prayer Book in Tamil.

2. Gnana Unartchy (14 Doctrinal Sermons).3. Suvishesha Viritturai, (Gospels for Sundays/Feast

Days) - This surpasses the Sinhala counterpart ‘Suvisesha Visadyanaya’

4. Deva Arulveda Puranam (Old and New Testaments) - This is the Tamil counterpart of ‘Deva Veda Puranaya’.

5. Sathya Vedagam Sanshepam (The Bible in Dialogue form) - In eight sections, refuting paganism.

6. Athputha Varalaru (Miraculous Legends) - In three parts. The Church, Virgin Mary and Holy Souls.

7. Viagula Pirasangam - Soul stirring sermons on the Passion of Christ, to be sung and not read. According to Fr. S. G. Perera S.J., these contain a pathos seldom met in prose or verse in any language.

8. Tharma Uttiyanam (Garden of Virtues) - Lives of Saints. A counterpart of ‘Dharmodyanaya’ in Sinhala.

9. Sukirta Tarppanam (Mirror of Virtues), in 15 dissertations. Tamil counterpart of ‘Sukrita Dharpanaya’ in Sinhala.

10. Vattiyarum Kuddiyaravanum Thark-Kittukonda Tarkam. - A controversial book of eleven discussions on the chief points of Catholicism.

11. Nava Tharkkam (Contrast between Catholics and Calvinists).

12. Nankul Vedam (Comparative study of four religions - Hinduism, Calvinism, Buddhism and Islam.)

13. Mussulman Vedam - Islam14. Kadavul Nirnayam - Refutation of paganism.15. Portuguese-Tamil-Sinhala Dictionary. Besides, Fr. Jacome is also credited with the Tamil Passion chants the Oppari, which contains pathos and beauty seldom found in prose or verse in any language and the Oppade (dirges/lament) meant to be chanted/sung at funerals and are filled with pathos. Unfortunately, this practice is now fast ebbing out of funeral houses, since just a handful of persons mostly women, still competent in chanting same have been shamefully labelled as "hired mourners." This then, amounts to an insult on the literary pursuits of Fr. Jacome. According to Prof. K. M. de Silva of the University of Peradeniya, Fr. Jacome's Tamil writings on the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church and refutation of heretical beliefs, were the largest in number, in that language, produced by a single author. The earliest form of local dramas - the Nadagams draw their inspiration from Fr. Jacome's works. He also composed Christmas carols in Sinhala folk tradition set to oriental music such as Devindu Uppanneya. Fr. Jacome is also credited with the introduction of Passion Plays to Ceylon, modelled on those staged in Goa. The first Passion Play in Ceylon was staged under his direct supervision at Silena-Madhu during the Lent of 1706. The costumes were all brought from Goa. Subsequently, Passion Plays of repute were staged in Pesalai, Mannar, Negombo, Duwa, Pitipane, Munnakkara, Chilaw, Bolawatte, Katuneriya, Moratuwa, Payagala and Maggona. The Boralessa Passion Play of yesteryear by the late Lawrence Perera was by far the greatest Passion Play ever staged in Sri Lanka. Fr. Jacome was the first to introduce the ‘gokkola’ in our churches on Palm Sunday in 1706, which has since come to stay. Summing up a resume of his untiring missionary endeavours in Ceylon, they speak of over 10,000 conversions attributed to him. He won over a large number of heretics, pagans and Muslims to the bosom of the Catholic Church. As an exorcist, he expelled countless numbers of evil spirits that had taken possession of innocent lives. To add to all these, he effected a large number of miraculous cures. Many were his encounters with wild beasts, from which through God's grace, he came off unscathed. He also encountered a series of perils, on account of his faith. He visited Dutch strongholds for missionary work, braving the death penalty imposed by the Dutch on any Catholic priest. Many were the controversies he had with heretics and pagans.

The Life and Works of Fr. Jacome Gonsalves 1676 - 1742

(Contd on Pg. 15)

By Roggy Corera


“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David” (Jeremiah 23,5)

Letters

I wish to thank Mr. Chevron De Croos for giving me a lead to pen a few words about my God Father (GF), W. Mathias Fer-nando after reading his article, ‘Devout Catholic, Writer in a Shepherding Role’, published in Messenger on 1st July. I would have been around five years of age when I started recognizing him as ‘Guruthuma’ as he used to visit our place in Panadura very frequently for the true love and affection he had towards my parents and of course to the five children of them. His visits and discussions with my father (A. P. Fernando) were mainly focused on Religious matters especially the ‘Legion of Mary’ if my memory is right. He used to give me presents, especially books very often and his Christmas gift (toys) was something that I was yearning for every Christmas. I still remember how, unhappy was I, when I received a carom board as my Christmas gift from him in a December in late fifties. To be frank, I did not like him checking my memory on math-ematical tables. However, I became the carom champion of two banks thanks to the initial practicing and training that I got from his Christmas gift, for which I never had a liking initially. My mother used to tease me by saying that I was really upset and unhappy when Mathias Guruthuma gifted a carom board for one Christmas. He spent lots of his valuable time when my fa-ther underwent an operation and also consoled all of us when my father was un-ceremonially transferred out of the Roman Catholic Mixed School in Panadura. With his leadership a well attended fair well ceremony (along with a booklet about my father and the services rendered by

him) at the Panadura Town Hall when my father retired prema-turely. For every Christmas my father used to take all of us to his place in Sarikkalimulla. He came all the way from Jaela on numer-ous occasions to the hospital and home when my father had a stroke in mid 90s. As mentioned in the article of

Mr. Croos he had easy access to any and all politician of this country after he commenced his profession as a Hansard reporter at the Parliament. But he never abused his position. However, he assisted my eldest sister (with qualifications) to secure her first employment. Thanks to my GF, my brother and I got opportu-nities to watch parliamentary proceedings at its chamber from the VIP visitors’ gallery at the old Parliament at Galle Face. In an article published in ‘Gnnanartha Pradeepaya’ dated 29th September 2012 about my father, by a retired principal Mr. P. D. G. Clement, he had mentioned that Mr. W. M. Fernando was the first Sinhala hansard reporter. My GF was very humble enough to have corrected it as ‘not the first’ in a latter edition of the same Catholic paper. My eldest sister wanted me to add the follow-ing to this article. When, Mr. W. J. S Perera, the inventor of ‘Perera Shorthand’ system (Sinhala) he has requested my father to find a suitable person to teach same. So my GF became the first student and went on to become the first in the island. Further, he was a teacher in my father’s staff.

W.M. Fernando, my Godfather who truly loved my parents

In recent weeks, many letters have been written regarding the sale of property adjoining Nirmala Cha-pel. As one of the oldest members of the community, I would like to express my sadness at the decision of the Jesuits to preserve only the Chapel and small garden in front and to sell even the adjoining priest’s house, without any consultation with or consideration of the laity’s needs. I would like to briefly highlight one of the important services conducted at Nirmala, called the FON-LA Children sponsorship programme, which will sadly be affected by the impending sale. FONLA is an acronym for Friends of Nirmala, which was first coined by Fr, Kuriacose, SJ, when he was residing at Nirmala in 1998. He had been approached by the then Parish Priest of Bambalapitiya, Fr Lucien Dep, requesting help from the Nirmala community for the school children of St Mary’s School, Bambalapitiya, a government school which the Ministry of Education was threatening to shut down due to poor attendance. The main reason was that the children were from poor shanty communities in Colombo and their parents could not afford to send them to school. Fr. Kuriacose SJ, then convened a meeting with the lay people and Jesuits and formed FONLA with the goal of supporting this poor school. Initially, we began by sponsoring 6 children. To-day this programme has grown to sponsor 50 children, providing substantial help to them and their families. We provide monthly dry rations and clothes, ar-range English, computer, religion classes and counselling, supply essential school items such as uniforms, shoes

Friends of Nirmala Sponsorship Programme (FONLA)and backpacks, put monthly sav-ing funds in bank books for each child, provide monthly lunch packets, hold an annual Christ-

mas party and take the children and their families on an annual trip to a Jesuit location. In addition, we have sup-ported the parents with small loans to do self-employ-ment, helped repair their homes and also funded courses for school leavers. We liaise closely with the principal of St. Mary’s School and monitor the children’s attendance. As the children are of mixed ethnic and religious back-ground, ours is a powerful witness of Christian love and unity. We have local and international donors and our ac-counts are checked quarterly by the Jesuit Treasurer. Running this programme requires substantial fa-cilities, including a storage room to store the dry rations, clothes and other items for our sponsored children. We require a hall /space to distribute items on a monthly ba-sis, conduct meetings and to hold the Christmas party. A toilet is also an obvious requirement. Ideally, the presence of a resident priest would animate FONLA programmes, as in the past when the Jesuits would participate in the meetings and programmes. Once the adjoining property is sold and only the small chapel and garden remain, FONLA will not have ad-equate facilities to conduct its programme. This service will be much missed by us, the FONLA members, but most impor-tantly by the marginalized poor children of St. Mary’s School.

A. N. De Andrado, Colombo 6.

Priests and Religious write to the President their concerns

A letter signed by Fr. Nimal Madurapperuma, the Vicar Gen-eral and Fr. Felix Mellawarachchi, SDB, the president of the Regional Religious Unit in the diocese of Anuradhapura, was sent to His Excellency, the President of Sri Lanka, re-garding two urgent problems which affect the people liv-ing in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka, namely the chronic kidney disease in the agricultural communities and the Daham Pasal on Sundays. Writing on behalf of the priests and the religious ministering in the diocese of Anuradhapura, Frs. Nimal and Felix have requested the President to ban the harmful agro-chemicals including glyphosate and try to provide filtered water system on a zonal basis for affected families and to take immediate action to stop tuition classes till noon on Sundays to enable the Catholic students to attend divine worship and to take part in Daham Pasal.

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI,Rajabima Oblate Centre, Anuradhapura

MISSION TO OUR CATHOLIC TRAWLER FISHERMENToday the Catholic fishing population- the backbone of the Catholic Church- is in a new situation having new needs and new aspirations. Many of our Catholic fish-ermen are forced to go beyond the continental shelf to deep sea, using trawlers, braving the vagaries of weather, to eke out an existence worthy of human dignity. Fish-ing is no more a traditional occupation for them but it has become an industry with new technology. If we visit some of the fishing centres and jetties along the coastal belt, we will be able to meet our Catholic fishermen from different dioceses and parishes and come to know personally their present way of life, their aspirations and also their struggles. With the introduction of technology and new meth-ods of fishing, they tend to spend many days in the sea, away from home and family for 3-4 weeks. In this new evolving situation, the Church is called upon to know them and cater to their spiritual needs. Today, the trawler fishermen away from land are facing untold dangers and challenges unlike other

occupations where people on land can rely on skills for safety and / or appeal for assistance. While the trawler fishermen most of the time in the deep sea faces the new challenges relying on God’s protection and the intercession of the saints, the Church leadership also needs to hear their cries and respond inventing new missionary means. A few years ago, when Fr. Felix Mellawarach-chi, SDB was the parish priest of Mount Carmel Church at Palliyawatte, a new jetty was constructed in his par-ish at Dikkowita. Listening to the deep sea fishermen, he felt the need to keep alive their Catholic faith while they were in the sea for 3- 4 weeks in their trawlers. So he introduced CDs containing Holy Hour, the Rosary and popular hymns so that they could use them in the sea. The fishermen were very grateful to Fr. Felix for introducing such a new missionary venture.

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI, Rajabima Oblate Centre,

Anuradhapura.

A p p r e c i a t i o n

It was on July 28, 1997 when a wife of noble character and a mother far more worth than rubies, left a void in our hearts and departed to the Father's home. She was "Charlotte" to all those who knew her and "Charlie" to my dear father. They shared forty years of happy wedded life, caring and sharing the burdens of eight children. She courageously faced the deaths of my father, all four sons, a son-in-law and two grand children and lived to the ripe old age of ninety one years. She was a generous lady help-ing so many in her own village without the knowledge of those around her. Many were words of love and gratitude spoken by many at her demise. To me, she was my rock and a tower of strength all my life. In my loneliness, in my achievements and in all instances, she was there for me and I still miss her. She loved the children of the world as she loved her own and helped them in whatever way she could. She was a religious woman who was a daily communicant until she was not fit enough to walk to the church. She was never a burden to me, as she was with me to the end. She had a peaceful happy death. All her children, grand children and great grand children gave her fitting fare-welI.Relations, friends and neighbours bade good bye in sorrow and love to a life well lived. I thank and give glory to my God for the loving gift of this wonderful mother, on her 21st death anniversary. Your Loving daughter

Ivy Dissanayake

That may be the reason why my parents used to call him guruthuma. Naturally we followed same. He was a live wire of the St. Annes Church in Sarikkalimulla, Moratuwa (Panadrua Parish) before mov-ing to Jaela after his marriage. Until up to his marriage his visits to our place was very regular. Despite settling down in Jaela, he continued his visits to my father’s place when-ever possible. A lengthy absence prompted him to call my brother and inquire about the health of my parents before their deaths. A Holy Mass was concelebrated when my father’s body was brought to our Mother of Sorrows church in Panadura in appreciation of the services that my father rendered to the Catholic Church and the society. Without going into further details, my GF was purely responsible for initiating that deserving tribute and making it a reality. Last time I met my GF was in November last year when he attended the funeral of my sister. Whenever my parents needed your presence and consoling in various matters you never failed to do so. My Dear God Father you were a great strength to our whole family especially when we were young. I am really happy as I got an opportunity to reciprocate as least by these few words of appreciation for my God Father’s respect, kindness, care, prayers and good will towards my parents. On behalf of my other two sisters and my brother, I wish you, good health, peace, harmony and long life from the bottom of my heart. God bless you and your family.

Lalith Fernando

In appreciation of a God-given Mother


"Call to discipleship through saintly life..."and the bless-ing filled life of a Priest is indeed like a fountain of blessings that pours forth from them. To be a fol-lower of Christ is a challenge. It is requested of a Priest to live within the eter-nal promises made to be with the Lord always. It is a miracle to find solutions to the challenges of life within the deep connec-tion a Priest has with God. The revelation of God is made to flow into us by a Priest through the unending love and affec-tion that God has for us. We have to inter-mediate to make the faithful live within the love of God in order to narrow the gap of the connection between God and man. It is the duty of the elders of a congregation to provide the knowledge of a dedicated life of a Priest, to our youngsters and lead them to be disciples of God as Priests of the future by making them understand the call of God. The Lord said “The harvest is plentiful but, the laborers are few. Therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38) In St. John’s Gospel it is mentioned, “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruits, fruits that will last....” (John 15:16). Thus it is understood that it is God Himself who is leading us to be His disciples as per His will. Accordingly the youngsters of this society must learn to overcome setbacks caused to them due to the many challenges faced by them in Jesus Christ Himself to overcome the wicked losses and to bear fruit by dedi-cating themselves to God. At a time when there are fewer farmers at the vineyard of the Lord the responsibility of Catholic families is to lead their children for the God’s call. By giving up something we must keep in mind that God provides much more gracefully. His Holiness Pope Francis has said that we have to be spiritually armed to take to the world the happiness of the Lord’s victorious Cross as Priests. The Holy Father has questioned as to how anyone could ad-here to the call for sainthood in this mod-ern and developing world? How can this be activated practically? This is the call and we are invited to lead a saintly life. The Clergy and Religious dedicate

“Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the messenger. “Do not do the least thing to him” (Genesis 22,12)“… and none shall be missing, says the LORD” (Jeremiah 23,4)

Rev. Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando is an out-spoken priest of the Archdiocese of Co-lombo, an authority on the Second Vati-can Council and a lecturer on Contextual Theology at the Department of Christian Studies at the University of Kelaniya. He has served in many parish-es of the Archdiocese after his ordina-tion in 1970, as assistant parish priest in Kalutara, Wellawatte and Dalugama. As parish priest, he served in Kelaniya (1974-82), Ragama (1982-85), Tarala (1992-97) and Nittambuwa (2008-2010. Apart from parish missions he also was the Director of Paul VI Centre, Colombo Fort from 1987-92 and Chaplain YCW/CWM for several years. Fr. Reid is well versed with the Scriptures and is well known as a leading lecturer having lectured at St. Joseph Vaz Deva Dharma Nikethanaya in Borella and at the Faculty of Theology at Aquinas Col-lege of Higher Studies in Borella. Apart from all his official duties since the early days of his Priesthood, he is well known for standing up for human rights and the well-being of the oppressed. He is also a former member of EATWOT (Ecumeni-cal Association of Third World Theolo-gians). Currently, he spends his retire-ment at Evening Star, Havelock Town, Colombo. The ‘Messenger’ was pleased to speak to Fr. Reid on his praise worthy service to the Church!

Q: Fr. Reid how are you keeping? Well, with the grace of God I am fine. The last few months have been quite dramatic for me as I have faced a couple of strokes and perhaps encountered death as well! Doctors and my friends did not expect me to live but God gave me power! Although I still take regular medical treatment, my mind is fine, so as to continue my work in the church!

Q: Can you please tell us something about your early life? I was born in Ragala in the Nu-wara Eiya district as my Father was in-volved in Plantations. However, I settled in Willorawatte, Moratuwa. Our family consists of five brothers and I was the middle one. Until Grade 3, I attended the Village Roman Catholic School and then joined St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa.

Q: In 1958 you made a sacri�ice to dedicate yourself for the service of the Lord. What inspired you to take this decision? Well you will be surprised to know that I had several Priests in my ex-tended family. The Abeyratne brothers (Frs. Oscar and Chrys), Fr. Kenneth Perera and Fr. Egerton Perera SJ are my cousins from my father’s and mother’s side. My elder brother was also one time in the Seminary. However, what really inspired me was the deep piety of my father and also the examples of the Christian Broth-ers who taught me.

Q: After your Ordination in January 22, 1970 you served in various parish-es in the Archdiocese. What was your experience with the faithful in these parishes?

It was amazing as that it is the core reason of priesthood - serving! I was fortunate to work with many people in the parishes as the Assistant Priest and Parish Priest as well. My first appoint-ment as Parish Priest was at Kelaniya, which consisted of three churches. Cer-tainly all three churches were of three different communities. However, Kelani-ya was a city with many Buddhist faith-ful and people were heavily involved in inter-religious dialogue directly or indi-rectly. Especially. I experienced a lot of team work during the Church Feasts and Temple functions! I was able to form a new community with the people in Wara-goda, Kelaniya named after St. Paul. The Parishes gave me enough opportunity to serve God and His creation!

Q: For more than a decade you were involved with YCW and CWM. What kind of experience did you get work-ing with the youth and workers? Well it was quite a different task with the workers and youth. I did do many activities with them in my tenure. I tried to infuse a new system, as in a new sense of orientation to the movement like Trade Unions. But, this idea did not

materialise. Nevertheless, I learnt a lot through the concept of Cardinal Cardijn - the SEE, JUDGE and ACT concept. This concept enabled me to do many things in the future.

Q: You were sent for your higher educa-tion to Belgium. Upon your return apart from your parish and Archdiocesan ac-tivities you were able to lecture at the Kelaniya University and Deva Dharma Nikethanaya. Today, you are well reck-oned as one of the leading theologians in the country. Would you mind sharing some of your contributions?

Yes. I did study the Vatican docu-ments, encyclicals during and after Vati-can II. These documents were certainly very helpful for an individual to know what the Church is and the true of func-tion of a Christian. It was a begging of a new era breaking controversial tradi-tions. I was fortunate to teach many stu-dents on these issues. I also taught Bud-dhism at the Deva Dharma Nikethanaya as well. I compiled lexicography on the foundation of Theology in sequence of the English Alphabet. I am still compiling more volumes on this. These books will certainly help a beginner or even anyone in the field of Theology to understand the subject better. However, much publicity was not given to this. I was involved in Liberation Theology and was a member of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT).

Q: Are the Church social teachings taken seriously in Sri Lanka?No.

Q: Why do you say so? May be it is the thinking of our Church leaders. Most of these social doc-uments are not well promoted among the laity as it certainly challenges the way many rich and powerful people live.

Q: You are well known as a Human Rights activist. As a priest how have you dealt with social issues of the peo-ple throughout the years? Standing for the truth is a core task in priesthood. After my higher educa-tion in Belgium I was able to stay in Brazil for some time. There I witnessed the true liberation movements of the people. This deeply inspired me! I was fortunate to be a part of many human rights activities for many decades and still continue it. I was involved in the Asian Hu-man Rights Commission and was able to deliver some lectures in Mumbai on Human Rights. I was a member of the People Against Torture (PAT) from the late 90s to mid-2000, assisting many le-gal cases against human torture. I was also involved in the National Movement for Social Justice, started by the Late Ven. Sobitha Thera, in 2013.

Q: As a Priest of more than 48 years what is your message to young priests? Well, all priests should strive to encounter Christ in each moment of their mission. Taking the “Foot washing” princi-ple to mind they must learn to meet Jesus.

‘Taking the foot-washing principle to mind’An Interview with Rev. Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando By Avishka Mario Senewiratne and Dinidu Edirisinghe

INDIGENOUS CLERGY/RELIGIOUS DAYCOLLECTION - 2017

DIOCESE SPA Collection

Anuradhapura

267,860.00

Badulla 127,065.00

Batticaloa 117,710.00

Chilaw 730,455.00

Colombo 3,514,260.50

Galle 134,046.00

Jaffna 300,627.00

Kandy 441,901.00

Kurunegala 428,080.00

Mannar 265,111.00

Ratnapura 178,522.00

Trincomalee 70,000.00

Total 6,575,637.50

Indigenous Clergy/Religious Day 2018

This year indigenous clergy day falls on July 29. This is a very important and special day for all the Catholics in Sri Lanka as they pray for their own clergy, the priest sons of the soil. This day which is set apart for all the priest-sons of the soil gives the invita-tion to live the theme of the day. The theme for the indigenous cler-gy day 2018 is “Call to discipleship through saintly life." The theme of the day invites us to consider our calling and ministry as priests.On this day we must think of allow-ing God to take possession of us as priests so that we may become what God wants us to be. As consecrated disciples, for our spiritual lives to progress we must be will-ing to lose everything for the Lord and surrender ourselves to Him. The demand of discipleship should focus our attention to the mission given to us by Jesus Christ. "And to another he said, ‘Follow me’But he replied, (Lord) 'let me go first and bury my father'. But he answered him, ’Let the dead bury their dead. But you go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (Luke 9. 59-60). By this example Jesus teaches us the supreme importance of the mission of a disciple. The above example does not say that we neglect the responsibilities of our particular state of our life, but anything that obstructs our commitment to Christ must be set aside and left behind. Discipleship re-quires perseverance in faithfully following Christ and that we live the present accord-ing to the will of God. "And another said, 'I will follow you Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home." (To him) Jesus said, 'No one who sets the hand to the plough and looks to what was left behind

is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:61-62). As Instru-ments in God’s hand to proclaim His word and lead His people we need to con-tinually ask if the concerns of the world hold us back from our priestly mission and discipleship. When we commit ourselves to Christ, we need to give Him our best efforts and prime time. If we want to be His true disciples by our saintly lives, first we have to be faithful followers of Christ and wish to become holy and virtu-ous. As St.Paul wrote to his saints, “Just as I try to please everyone in every way, not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved” (1 Cor:10.33). Let our priestly lives be shining ex-amples of love, kindness, patienceand vir-tue. Let us try to become more and more worthy priests of Jesus Christ by commit-ting our lives totally to Him to share the very mission of Jesus.Today let us ask God’s abundant blessings on all our indigenous clergy that they may become worthy tem-ples of your glory to be holy, set apart and ready to do your will.

Rev. Fr.Bede De SilvaPMS Director

Diocese of Galle

The National DirectorPontifical Mission

Societies

This collection was initiated by the Catholic Bishops' Conference - Sri Lanka and must be submitted

immediately to the Procurator or the Diocesan Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies as the case may be, for onward

transmission to Rome via the National Office of the P.M.S.

for the Holy Father's personal charities.

We are called to disciple-ship through a saintly life on this Indigenous

Clergy/Religious Day of 2018. We have to think of the call to be a Priest, Prophet and King obtained through baptism. The invitation to Priest-hood granted through the Sacra-ment of Baptism can be consid-ered as a means to make lively the Priesthood. All the Clergy and Reli-gious do sacrifice their lives to God through a devoted life style. The life of a Priest is a blessed gift obtained from God considering the dedicat-ed, sacrificial life they lead. Accord-ingly, the late Thomas Cardinal Co-oray’s life is a true example of this gift from God. As a servant of God he is considered a role model for Priests. Hence, let us ask the Good Lord to recognise him as a Saint. “He was a live monument for the Priests who came from oth-er countries” in the words of Rev. Fr. Ernest Poruthota. Truly, a Priest is a mediator in between God and Man. The clergy are a lot who provide the light to the faithful and teach and guide them. St. Gregory speaking about a good Priest says “A Priest must be clean before he cleans another. He should be relieved of sin before pardon-ing sins of others. Before a Priest guides the faithful towards God it is essential and proper that he should lead a life pleasing to God. Before cleansing others a Priest should be enlightened” (De Liguori Alphon-sus Dignity and Duties of the Priest . – 63). In the life of the Clergy and Religious due to being connected to God they should be filled with special qualities such as discipline, obedience and unfailing strength. Thus, they become shareholders of the spiritual life of Jesus. Therefore, it is essential that a Priest should lead an honest life while listening to God’s voice, always. Sacrifice and self control within holiness are qualities in the lives of the Clergy and Reli-gious. They offer themselves to God through a dedicated life on their own will. Accordingly, more secure-ly they confirm their own will to the holy will of God. The Priest is there-fore bound to follow God and adhere to the will of God fully. The deep faith

their lives as a pleasant offering to God. For this purpose they are anointed with the undying holy ordination. By this the cleanliness of the Priesthood is depicted. The Clergy and Religious who accept the Church as their bride do engage in the pro-cess of making the faithful, holy. The offer-ing of a Mass is pleasing to God due to the provision of sacraments are valid due to a Priest’s holy way of life. The sacrificial acts of a Priest is highlighted due to Jesus sac-rificing his life in full for the whole human race and because bring redemption to the world. We are invited to lead a saintly life in the Church due to the Lord’s way of re-demption. We have to always seek blessings for the Clergy and Religious who are en-gaged in the evangelization process of the Church. Likewise, we pray the Clergy and Religious who recognised God’s call be blessed, through their dedicated life and the eternal ordination be intermediates to provide God’s blessings to the faithful. As lay faithful instead of judging the weak-nesses of the Clergy and Religious it is best to dedicate them to Jesus and ask the Lord’s protection for them and request Jesus’ in-tervention for them. This is a responsibility and duty of a lay faithful. The Thomas Cardinal Cooray OMI, was a true example who took the initiative to promote native Priests to our Mother-land – his dedication towards this valuable cause must be appreciated and commend-ed. Let us ask the Lord to provide the spirit to raise him to the sainthood. Let us ask the Lord for blessings to carry out the evangeli-cal process of Priesthood as per the Lord’s

wish in the Church. Let us ask for the guid-ance and protection of the Holy Spirit for all those who have dedicated themselves as Clergy and Religious who are serving in the Lord’s vineyard. Let the Lord protect the dedicated lives of the Clergy and Religious and make them be good shepherds by lead-

ing a saintly life and nourish the vineyard of the Lord.May God bless you all!Yours in the Lord Jesus Christ,

Rev. Fr. Basil Rohan Fernando,National Director,

Ponti�ical Mission Societies.

No. 19, Balcombe Place, Colombo 8

Tel/Fax: 011 - 2685673E-mail:[email protected]


“As king he shall reign and govern wisely, he shall do what is just and right in the land” (Jeremiah 23,5)

(Contd on Pg. 12)

The news of the sudden demise of Archbishop Jean-Marie Masson OMI, on the morning of July 28, 1947 reached the Co-adjutor Msgr. Thomas

Benjamin Cooray OMI, only two days later. He was over-seas at that time in Belgium. Since as Co-adjutor, he was accredited with the right of succession and moreover with plenipotentiary powers in administration, Msgr. Cooray on that day automatically became the new Arch-bishop, in fact the sixth in the history of the Archdiocese of Colombo. Thus began the memorable “Cooray Era” in Sri Lanka. On his return, planning his administration, he writes in his diary: “I must be guided by the needs of the Church. As for myself, unless the grain of wheat falling to the ground dieth itself remaineth alone." Archbishop Cooray thus inherited the honour of becoming the first native to hold this highest office and later would be giv-en the red hat by Pope Paul VI in 1965, making him the first-ever Cardinal of Sri Lanka, the fifth Asian to be thus elevated to the College of Cardinals and the third, in the history of the Oblate Congregation (OMI). I – Appointment as Archbishop: an Historical Landmark Fr. Benjamin as he was popularly known was the Superior of the Oblate Major Seminary in Borella, in fact in the ninth year of his office, when news reached him of his nomination as the Co-adjutor on January 4, 1946 while holidaying with his seminarians in Mag-gona. His appointment had been made by Pope Pius XII on December 14, 1945. The news was received with exceeding jubilation by one and all. Having chosen the Rosarian Monastery of Tholagatty, Jaffna to make his retreat in preparation putting himself under the direc-tion of a saintly Oblate, Fr. B.A.Thomas, the founder of the Rosarians, who by the way had found in Fr. Benja-min a great friend and confidant, the new Co-adjutor received the Episcopal consecration on March 7, 1946 at the hands of His Excellency Archbishop Leone P. Ki-erkels C.P., the Nuncio in Delhi and Apostolic Delegate to Ceylon. Bishop Edmund Peiris OMI, his brother-Oblate, now the Bishop of Chilaw who was Fr. Benjamin’s co-seminarian in the junior seminary as well at Borella and Bishop Bernard Regno OSB, the Bishop of Kandy were the co-consecrators. He received the “pallium”, the spe-cial insigna of a Metropolitan Archbishop at the hands Bishop Edmund Peiris at the Sacred Heart Chapel of the Archbishop’s House in a simple ceremony on December 23, 1948. With Archbishop Cooray taking over office, he was destined to shepherd this large archdiocese for a pe-riod of nearly 30 years (July 1947 – September 1976) and also preside over the Conference of Bishops. Some of the remarkable decisions he had made as the chief shepherd and leader of the Archdiocese reveal the wisdom, tactful-ness and foresight he showed in administration and the clarity of thought he always had in settling thorny issues. Even in his own life-time those who were close to him and collaborated closely with him, laity and priests, con-sidered him a saintly prelate whose first concern was his own personal sanctity which made him also make all ef-forts possible to see sanctity in all others. The appointment of a Ceylonese Archbishop by the Pope resonated well with the new historical situa-tion that came over Ceylon with the dawn of indepen-dence in February 1948. It was time for the Church in the country to don a local face and have local Clergy begin to run the pastoral ministry and ecclesiastical administration. Archbishop Masson made a wise de-cision in insisting on an indigenous priest taking over as his successor as he saw the signs of the impending change that was coming over Ceylon. It felt on the lot of Archbishop Cooray to take on the task of indigeniz-ing the Church. With civil administration passing over to the natives as the British left their colony, it fitted well that the Church also follow suit and see that the Catho-lic Church too tread the same path. Archbishop Cooray would wisely guide this transition in raising a native clergy who would work hand in hand with the foreign oblate missionaries in a spirit of solidarity. He did well to entrust the various Church responsibilities evenly among all priests who were currently serving the par-ishes, seminaries, schools and other Church institutions so that no one felt discriminated and thereby creating a pleasant atmosphere for all to serve the people.

Cardinal Cooray OMI: the �irst Sri Lankan ArchbishopCelebrating the 71st Anniversary of his Taking Of�ice

II - Signi�icant Pas-toral Initiatives and Challenges To begin with he appointed three Vicars General: a French mission-ary to care for the pastoral activities and be Chancellor, a Sinhalese to take up Church-State re-lations and a Tamil to see to the Educa-tion matters. Gradu-ally and in due time, some of these re-sponsibilities were passed on to the di-

now become the National SEDEC of Caritas. Following Vatican II, he invited the “Better World Movement” to have an all-island seminar in Kandy in January 1965 to bring the spirit of renewal and updating of this epoch-making Ecumenical Council, to the Church in Sri Lanka. The inauguration of the Bolawalana Catholic Teachers College and the steps he took to ensure the formation of Catholic children in their faith in launch-ing the Parish Daham Pasala programme bear witness to the great concern he had in the field of the forma-tion and education of the young. The first ever National Conference of Religious was initiated by Archbishop Co-oray with the blessings of the Apostolic Delegate of that time as was the first ever National Congress of Youth held at Aquinas College and gathering youth chaplains for a first-ever national seminar. Being a missionary oblate from the beginning of his vocation, he ventured on wonderful missionary ventures such as laying the foundations for the future diocese of Anuradhapura by establishing Catholic settlements in the interior villages of the North Western Province. Within the Archdiocese itself, he created new Catholic communities at Dampe in Willorawatte and at Pugoda in Tarala. The greatest task that befell on Archbishop Cooray was the preparation of an indigenous clergy for which he enlarged the minor seminary and sponsored also a major seminary in Kandy opening it as the first National Seminary in September 1955 with the Jesu-its leaving this institution and its imposing buildings known as the Papal Seminary catering to the formation of priests for India, Pakistan and Burma. The higher ed-ucation of the clergy too was one of his priorities. It was to provide an efficient pastoral service to the diocese that he sent priests abroad to specialize in Catechetics, in Scripture studies, Theology, Canon Law, Psychology and counseling and even in Broadcasting and TV. Among the greatest moments of anguish he faced was the State take-over of schools in 1960 which he declared was a violation of the fundamental human rights of the Cath-olic parents, the expulsion of the European nuns from state hospitals and leprosy asylums, the refusal of visas to the European missionaries, land bills that affected the Church adversely, the armed struggle of youth re-bellion in April 1971 and the unwholesome spill-over of negative happenings following the Vatican Council II. He was pained also by the apostasy of priests and when they felt short of their expected degree of sanctity and commitment. Around the time of his retirement, he had alerted the relevant Vatican authorities about some negative trends in Religious who have been the glory of the Church regretting “a swing in the opposite direction which is disturbing” (Letter dated 25/11/1975 to Pro-paganda with copies to three other congregations).

III - His Fondest pastoral projects Among his fondest achievements was the com-pletion and consecration of the Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka at Tewatte in February 1974, thus happily fulfill-ing the vow of his predecessor who had vowed a nation-al shrine to Mary for saving Ceylon from the catastrophe of war and the Japanese invasion in April 1942. To this we can add the Marian Congress of 1948 celebrating100 years of the missionary work of the Oblates in Sri Lanka and the Visit of the Fatima Pilgrim Virgin in 1950, the statue that toured the world, as well as the Family Ro-sary Rallies of Fr. Patrick Peyton (1955). He led a na-tional pilgrimage to Lourdes/Rome in 1950 and later in mid-sixtees. We can mention Paul VI Centre in the heart of Colombo, a dream that he had for 20 years, as he had noted in his diary, meant to co-ordinate the lay aposto-late groups in the archdiocese. Not to be forgotten are the 12 religious orders of nuns and 8 religious orders of priests whom he invited to work in various apostolates of the archdiocese. Among them are: the Salesians for youth, the Blessed Sacrament Fathers in the heart of Co-lombo to open the Eucharist to the hundreds of workers who pour into the city daily, the Sisters of Providence to staff the Welisara chest-hospital, Sisters of Charity to care for the destitutes, the Poor Clares and the Rosar-ians to embellish the spiritual oasis around the Tewatte Basilica.

By Rev. Fr. Leopold Ratnasekera OMIPostulator for the Cause of Cardinal Cooray OMI

ocesan clergy. Thus a diocesan priest, who happened to be his Vicar General was chosen to be his first Auxiliary-bishop. What the Archdiocese is today is wholly due to the great pioneering work done and pastoral initiatives launched by Archbishop Cooray. Msgr. W.L.A. Don Peter, educationist and historian has written: “As the first Sri Lankan Archbishop he had also to contend with new problems following in the wake of Independence which his predecessors under British rule, did not have to face. Looking back, we see that Thomas Cooray was the man chosen by Providence to bravely and prudently with-stand as situation demanded, the problems that affected the Church in the early independence era. Naturally the Bishops, clergy and the laity turned to the Archbishop for leadership and for guidance….It was not merely be-cause he was Archbishop, but more because he was a man of stature, a man of principles, a man of high stand-ing in public life, and above all, a man of God”. Fr. Quintus Perera of the Chilaw diocese who compiled the Positio Historica for the cause of Joseph Vaz writes: “His Eminence is a compendium of all that is good and noble in Christianity. His spiritual personal-ity is a multi-faceted one. Different writers could focus on a special aspect or two. An over-all appraisal of his eminent virtues would require the penetrating spiritual genius of a St. Bonaventure who has left us a memo-rable biography of St. Francis of Assisi or the analytical skill and spiritual insight of a Sebastiano Rogo who had given us a masterly life of Ven. Fr. Joseph Vaz." Arch-bishop Carlo Curis, the Apostolic Pro-Nuncio while of-ficially announcing the retirement of Cardinal Cooray in 1976 said: “A crown of justice which is a testimony to your nobility of mind, to your abounding generosity, to your prudence and discretion, to your paternal concern for the flock entrusted to your care. These and many more undisclosed qualities of mind and heart which only abide in the heart of a Father who had loved his faithful and his priests is a veritable crown of justice." Pope John Paul II writing to Cardinal Cooray celebrating the Golden Jubilee of his Priesthood says: “Drawing a consciousness of your dignity and office you have been able to order the holiness of your life in such a manner as to be a true picture of Christ the Sov-ereign Priest. From that same source you have proved to be docile to His Commands, a steadfast asserter of His Truth, a guardian of the Faith in every circumstance of life, constant and untiring in work, an example of vir-tues, a pattern of living and interpreting life in a manner quite different from that our times portray of unbridled seeking of pleasure, rushing headlong into a paganism”. No wonder then we find written in his personal notes as Archbishop: “I will spend my entire life, my time, my energies and all the gifts I have to serve the flock that God had entrusted to me, which is the archdiocese”. In he initiated the College of Aquinas for higher learning with the hope that one day it would turn out to be a Catholic University. So was his dream of a future Catho-lic Hospital when he launched the initiative of a humble “Fatima Clinic” in the outskirts of Borella. His involve-ment in bringing solace to victims of floods and initia-tives he took to defend and improve the lot of fisher-folk as well as organizing the family and Christian Worker Movements are well known. The institution of SEDEC the social arm of the Archdiocese which he built has


“In his days Judah shall be saved, Israel shall dwell in security” (Jeremiah 23,6)

Maintenance of Church propertiesBy Rev. Fr. Athanasius Samarasinghe

l Unforgettable incidents of Priestly life

Let your mind do the judging..

Not the eyes...“Is judging people wrong Little Bird?” “What do you exactly mean by judging? It can connote many things. Sometimes it means to evaluate a person...or criticise a person...mostly it tends to convey a negative idea. And also it can mean condemning a person or branding him as a bad person...” “Can you throw some light on this matter Little Bird?” “In fact, trying to understand the true nature of something is not wrong. We have to observe our surroundings carefully and understand things exactly as they are. It is just common sense. Especially we have to understand people at least to a certain extent. We fall into trouble mostly because we create a wrong picture of the things and people around us and trust the wrong people at the wrong time. So, in order to be wise we have to be alert and try to understand things and people as they really are. We have a brain and we are capable of perceiving things in the correct perspective.” “True.... We have to make sensible conclusions. But we are not very wise regarding this I think.” “Yes.. unfortunately sometimes we form opinions without knowing facts. We are quick to judge and make conclusions. This can be misleading, wrong and can be even dangerous.. listen to this story... A 24-year-old man looking out of a train window shouted, “Dad, look!... the trees are going behind!” The dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby, looked at the young man’s behaviour with pity. Suddenly, again the young man exclaimed, “Dad, look... the clouds are running with us!” The young couple couldn’t resist and said to the dad, “Why don’t you take your son to a good doctor?” The old man smiled and said, “I did and we are just coming back from the hospital. My son has been blind since birth and he just got his eyes today.” See!..There are inner struggles and hidden silent stories in people’s lives. We must never be hasty in judging things from their appearance...The real situation may be entirely different from what we see. “Jesus said not to judge people ...right?” “Yes He did...but what He said has still a deeper meaning. He meant that we should not condemn others, because we too may have those very reasons for which we condemn others....Jesus said, “Judge not, so that you will not be judged.” “Why do we tend to judge and criticize others Little Bird?” “Because we are insecure and unhappy. We are selfish. When we are insecure and not satisfied with who we are, we tend to put other people down. We want to feel good by making others feel bad...” “So, what should we do?” “Try to understand people correctly. Don’t go by what you see. Listen to their unspoken stories with concern. Be alert and careful when you deal with people. Some are sincere and some are not. So be wise and prudent, while not being harsh or judgmental.”

Michael Angelo Fernando

When we speak of C h u r c h

properties they mainly consist of estates and lands. Every church has

an extent of land with surrounding buildings. Some churches are built in lands covering about four or five acres, while others have more than five acres of land. In all these lands the coconut is the main cultivation that yields a sizable income for the maintenance of the priest and other servants. About four years ago the present Archbishop had a special seminar for priests who had some Church lands in their parishes. An expert from the department of plantations industry was the main speaker who dealt in depth how the land could be utilized for different types of plantations other than coconut. In the discus-sion that ensued he explained how better yields could be obtained by planting coconut and other subsiding crops. New innovative methods for growing vegetables were also introduced. The Archbishop wanted the priests to use idle lands for cultivation so that the priests would be self-sufficient in food. I had a banana plantation in the back yard of the Mission House at Malwatta, which provided a profitable income for my maintenance. It is very regrettable that when the succeeding priest turns a blind eye to such plantations and ventures on some other projects. There should be continuity and coher-ence in matters pertaining to the Church. When I was the parish priest of Batepola Du-nagaha, there was a church in Ullalapola Balagalla with a land of seven acres. There was a watcher family look-ing after that land. The main income for parish main-tenance was obtained from the sale of coconuts of the land. The seven acre land at Ullalapola was a donation by the grand aunt of the late Mr. Lakshman Jayakody for-mer Minister of the SLFP Government. That grand aunt was a Catholic and she donated another seven acres to the Buddhist temple which had a pirivena for Samane-ra monks. The Jayakody Walauwa was situated close to the pirivena and the Catholic Church. There was peace-ful coexistence between the Catholics and the Buddhists in the area. The Catholics were a small minority. As we advance in age it is necessary that we keep our bodies healthy and active. The doctors ad-vise that to maintain a good health one must engage in regular exercise. The best exercise presented by them is walking. Accordingly, I used to do some walking in the mornings from Ullalapola Church to Divulapitiya. Since I was in civil nobody knew who I was. I usually parked my scooter at the church premises and started walking. The watcher at Ullalapola church was not very happy about my walking habit. One day the watcher asked me whether I really came for a walk or I am to

catch him stealing coconuts. I was really flabbergasted by his questioning. I was reminded of the Sinhala prov-erb. "Puhul hora karen thane." The watcher on his own admitted that he was in the habit of selling coconuts se-cretly and that he was committing a theft. Maintaining the church properties is an arduous task. The people living close to church land tamper with the fence in or-der to gain a few inches to enlarge their properties. This is real encroachment which has to be stopped. Sometimes the parish priests have other prob-lems like providing roadways to private houses. In one Church where I was the parish priest one parishioner was demanding a roadway through the Mission House and the Church. When the case was taken up at the Conciliation Board he was very critical and used abu-sive language against the Church authorities and he was not ready to accept the solution given by the Board. His Lordship, Rt. Rev. Dr. Harold Anthony Perera, Bishop of Kurunegala, when he was the Procurator of Colombo in-tervened in the matter, but he was adamant and was not ready for a peaceful settlement. In another Church the sacristan who was liv-ing in the Church premises was plucking coconuts even during the day and sold them to various people. When questioned by me as to why he used to do this he gave very evasive answers. After sometime he met with an ac-cident right in front of the Church and died on the spot. The people said that God punished him because of his misdeeds. Well! We cannot judge people in that manner! Some people expect the priest to adopt a stern attitude toward such people. But many people want the priest to be a kind-hearted person towards such miscreants. In Thillanduwa, Malwatta Parish, there was an age old roadway problem. The Aba Piya Mawatha could not be extended upto the main road. The road runs through a private property of a parishioner. Very Rev. Fr. Ivan Perera played a leading role in solving this prob-lem. The parish council was not ready to give a portion of land to that parishioner in order to clear the roadway up to the main road. Somehow I was able to convince the parish council, of course with the good counsel of Rev. Fr. Ivan Perera. The present Archbishop His Emi-nence Malcom Cardinal Ranjith declared open the road-way Fr. Aba Piya Mawatha during my tenure of office as the Parish Priest of Malwatta to the utmost satisfaction of the parties concerned. In conclusion let us remember the late Rev. Fr. Aba Costa who rendered yeoman service to several par-ishes of the Archdiocese of Colombo. May his soul rest in peace! Many churches have obtained lands through the generous donations of Catholics who have gone be-fore us. May the Good Lord Bless them and grant them eternal rest!

Very significant was his deep commitment to the administering of Confirmation and to regular pas-toral visits to the parishes and schools which covered a detailed program of various events. On the international scene he pioneered efforts to establish Radio Veritas in Manila, to launch the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Con-ferences (FABC) by which he extended his apostolic care to a wider Asia. While Pope John XXIII nominated him as a member of the Preparatory Committee of Vatican II, following the same Council he served as a member of the Commission for the revision of the Church’s Canon Law, a member for the Congregation of the Evangeliza-tion of Peoples and that for the Oriental Churches. While he was the first Archbishop to ever invite a Pope to grace the soil of Sri Lanka when Paul VI made a brief visit in December 1970, he was blessed with the opportunity of voting at two papal elections, that of John Paul I and of St. John Paul II. As a member of the world episcopate, he was always loyal to the person of the Pope and the Holy See whose directives he carried out faithfully. He was one of the “Fathers” of Vatican II and represented the Bishops’ Conference at the first four Bishops’ Synods in Rome.

Conclusion As Archbishop and Cardinal he was not only much respected within church circles but also held in

honor and esteem by civil authorities and those in gov-ernment. Often he is hailed in secular circles as one who brought pride and great honor to Sri Lanka as a Cardinal and as a religious leader par excellence who could lead in wisdom and foresight. As a spiritual leader he warmly welcomed dialogue between the various religions and cultures in his motherland and warned against the infil-tration of communist and Marxist ideologies that might pose a severe danger to the religious culture and ethos of the nation. This month, we remember with gratitude to God this outstanding personality and the “Cooray-Era” of the thirty-year service to the Church and the Na-tion as Blessings we have received in the saintly figure of Cardinal Cooray. His episcopal motto “To serve and not to be served” carried him right through his life to make of him an icon of a visionary leader and a saintly shepherd.. Like the massive columns of Bernini in the Vatican Square, he had the ability to hold in fond embrace the entire archdiocese with its priests, seminarians, reli-gious, laity, the children, the young, the old, the infirm and the poor. Now that the diocesan ecclesiastical pro-cess is terminated with documents about his life, work and fame of sanctity already sent to Rome, we must zealously strengthen the prayer campaign throughout the archdiocese in all parishes for the powerful miracle needed through the intercession of this Servant of God in view of his speedy beatification and canonization.

(Contd from Pg. 11)Cardinal Cooray OMI ....


Girls, come and help us! Boys, come and help us!

“This is the name they give him: ‘The LORD our justice’” (Jeremiah 23,6)

Hey there young Evangelizer, Hope you enjoyed our last week’s edition. Have you heard about the ‘Malala Day’? It was on 12th July. It is the birthday of Malala Yousafzai. She is the youngest person to be honoured with a Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 17. Malala was born in 1997 in Pakistan. After the Taliban (an Islamic extremist group) attacked her hometown, they deprived her and many other girls from their right to education. At the age of 11, she gave a public speech at Peshawar, Pakistan titled “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” Malala voiced her opinions to the world by writing to BBC about the various persecutions they faced under the Taliban. She was vocal about the education to all girls. Her bravery won the award of Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize in 2011. Malala also faced death threats by the Taliban and was shot in 2012. Even at that point she fought back to get her life. Today she is a renowned education activist. Malala was just a child when she fought for the right of herself and many other children like her. As children of God, we are called by God to be evangelizers of the Truth. We need not strive for a Nobel Prize. We can choose to do what is right and speak the truth in the situations we face daily or to the people we meet often or even in our homes and schools. If we determine to travel in the right path from our childhood, we will not stray from it when we grow older. So this week let us make sure to choose what is right and do what is right. MJ & AJ.

He was the son of Zebedee and Mary Salome, and the brother of St. John the apostle. St. James was born at Bethsaida in Galilee. Ss. James and John were called by Jesus when they were working with their father on a fishing boat on the sea of Galilee (Mark 1, 19-20). Jesus nicknamed them as “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3, 17) because of their short tempered natures (Luke 9, 54). St. James was the first apostle to be martyred (Acts 12, 1-3a). He was put to death by Herod Agrippa I in 44 AD. The traditional belief is that the remains of St. James were found at Santiago de Compostela in Spain where pilgrims across the globe travel to till date.

Saints of the Week – St. James the Apostle (25th July)

St. James was one of the privileged apostles to witness the Transfigura-tion of Christ (Mark 9, 1), raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead (Mark 5, 37) and the agony of Jesus in the garden of Gethsamane (Matthew 26, 37). St. James the Greater, Santiago or Ja-cob are other names, which are attributed to him. He is the patron saint of Spain and Rheumatism.

They are the parents of Mother Mary and grand-parents of Jesus. Their names are not found in the New Testament but is confirmed through a tra-ditional source called the Protoevangelium of James accepted by the Church. Ss. Anne and Joachim were childless for a long period of time and they perse-vered in prayer and fasting to bear a child. God blessed

them with Mother Mary as their daughter who later was chosen to be the Moth-er of Jesus. The strong char-acter of Mother Mary in making decisions, her con-tinuous practice of prayer, her devotion to the laws of her faith, her steadiness at moments of crisis, and her devotion to her relatives—all indicate the upbring-ing of her parents. Mother Mary mirrors the faith and virtues of Ss. Anne and Joachim. This feast is also known as the feast of Grandparents. Ss. Anne and Joachim are the patron saints of Grandparents.

Source – Catholic News Agency

Catholic LingoApostle

The root word of Apostle is Apostello in Greek. In a general sense it means ‘To send forth/ to despatch’. In a broader sense it refers to a person who is entrusted with a mission (1 Kings 12, 24; 14, 6). In the present context of the Church, the word is reserved to those dis-ciples who were chosen, and received the title and mis-sion from Christ (Matthew 10, 1-15). The successors of the apostles are the Bishops. The ‘Apostles’ Creed’ recited at the beginning of the Holy Rosary is named so because it is rightly considered to be a faithful summary of the 12 apostles' faith (Catechism of the Catholic Church #194). In the Letter to the Hebrews 3, 1 the term Apos-tle is applied to Christ Himself as the one who was a del-egate sent by God to reveal the Truth to the world.

Source – Catholic Encyclopedia

How would you feel if a stranger walked up to you and tells you about the places you went this year, people

you hang out with most, your favourite music, the last book you read, your favourite cuisine? Or tell you things that neither your parents, friends nor you knew about yourself? The online world offers kids a pantheon of programmes and apps like FaceBook (FB), Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, WhatsApp, Viber, etc;. This universe is known as ‘Social media’ where we use websites and apps to meet, interact with each other, and create and share content. Like the olden days of our parents, we play cricket, tennis, football, basketball and even go shooting or hunting for leisure. But the difference is our parents played on the real fields or recreational parks, with sweat and dust, and we play ‘online’. They used their entire body to play the games whereas we most of the time use only our brains. Our lives are public online because of the in-formation we provide to play the games or use various apps. While having more friends on FB, being a part of many chat groups or getting more likes and comments boosts our mental satisfaction and ego, the cost of this joy is our privacy. Have you ever read the Privacy Policy of any of the Social Media programmes or apps you use? We pre-fer to consult our elders or friends before making an im-portant decision in our life. Then why not run through the Terms and Conditions we agree to in these apps be-fore ticking the box – ‘I agree’. Do you know what you are agreeing to? A recent readability test conducted by the Brit-ish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to confirm the

How ‘Private’ is your ‘Private Life’ online?maturity level required to understand these terms re-vealed, that at least a university reading level was re-quired for it. One would have to spend couple of hours to grasp it. It is not as simple as the Harry Potter series. Peter Eckersley a Computer Scientist says, “FB can learn almost anything about you by using artifi-cial intelligence to analyse your behaviour”. Thereaf-ter these social media apps use the knowledge gained about a person for advertising and propaganda purpos-es. FB explicitly mentions in its policy that it will share personally identifiable information about its users with partners, advertisers, and developers. Anyone willing to advertise develop an app, or partner with FB will have access to all of FB’s users’ information. Pinterest privacy policy allows sharing personal information of users with third-party companies. Twit-ter states that it reserves the right to sell its users’ in-formation or transfer all data during a bankruptcy, sale, merger, or acquisition of the company. Instagram policy states “We may ask advertisers or other partners to serve ads or services to your devices, which may use cookies or similar technologies placed by us or a third party”. Many social media apps utilize information of people for marketing purposes. They are capable of tracking your behaviour in their own apps or apps con-necting to their apps. The apps can also have access to the information stored on your computer or mobile devices. So what is the role of the so called “Privacy Control Settings”? You might breathe a sigh of relief that your privacy is protected when you configure the rel-evant settings. Unfortunately this does not ensure that your information is protected from advertisers, part-ners or application developers – in short third parties whom you know not.

Saints of the Week – Ss. Anne and Joachim (26th July)

Games Solution for the Sudoku Puzzle published on July 15, 2018.

How can you protect yourself online?

• Limit posting about yourself online. Think well be-fore you post something. Whatever you publish on-line, even if you delete it will be there online.

• Turn off geotags or tagging the locations you visit on social media

• Use a secondary e-mail id for social media purposes• Do not share your passwords with others. Change

your passwords periodically. Use a strong password which cannot be guessed easily. Make sure to use different passwords for the different accounts you maintain.

• Before installing any app on your mobile devices, verify which data of your device will be accessed by the app. If all your social media apps are configured on your mobile devices, make sure to set a password for the device.

• Familiarise yourselves with the privacy policies.

How can parents/ guardians protect their children from the online vices?• Learn about the programmes and apps your child is using and often speak to them about its features and uses• Understand the basics of the Privacy Policies and the minimum age requirements required to use those apps• Monitor your child’s online presence and behaviour• Obtain online family protection or implement paren-tal controls for the internet usage of your child• Educate your child about the importance of protect-ing themselves online• Schedule time limits for spending time on the com-puter or mobile devices• Educate your child about cyber bullying and cyber sexting. Cyber bullying is where kids fall prey to online bullies, where mean messages are posted in groups or in public, scandalous photos and videos are shared without permission. Cyber sexting is sending sexually explicit messages, photos or videos.

M. Antoinette Jerom


By Rev. Fr. Don Anton Saman Hettiarachchi

“The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught” (Mark 6,30)

SUNDAY WORD

Sun: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time Jer. 23: 1-6; Eph. 2: 13-18; Mk. 6: 30-34Mon: Memorial of St. Bridget of Sweden, Religious Mic. 6: 1-4, 6-8; Mt. 12: 38-42Tue: Memorial of St. Sharbel Makhluf, Priest Mic. 7: 14-15, 18-20; Mt. 12: 46-50Wed: Feast of St. James, Apostle 2 Cor. 4: 7-15; Mt. 20: 20-28Thu: Memorial of Ss. Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary Jer. 2: 1-3, 7-8, 12-13; Mt. 13: 10-17Fri: Jer. 3: 14-17; Mt. 13: 18-23Sat: Jer. 7: 1-11; Mt. 13: 24-30Sun: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time Indigenous Clergy/Religious Sunday 2 Kgs. 4: 42-44; Eph. 4: 1-6; Jn. 6: 1-15 or Is. 6: 1-9; Eph.1: 3-14; Mt. 9: 35-38

Liturgical Calendar Year B 22nd July - 29th July 2018

First Reading. Jer. 23: 1-6 Prophet Jeremiah warns the leaders and priests of dire consequences for misleading and neglecting the flock and promises a Good Shepherd who will bring the flock back together. Under him there will be complete peace and protection.

Second Reading. Eph. 2: 13-18 St. Paul referring to Jesus Christ says that every-thing was reconciled in Him. Through the sacrifice on the Cross Jesus brought peace and harmony. With this sacrifice there was peace with God, nature and among men.

Gospel. Mk. 6: 30-34 After the missionary journey of the twelve, Je-sus makes them rest. The people come in search of them and Jesus out of compassion begins to preach to them. For, they were like sheep without a shepherd.

Re�lection Today’s Readings suggest that we constantly guide, direct and protect the faithful in their lives, their day to day struggle. We are not supposed to neglect the spiritual needs of the people. In other words we are supposed to fulfill the spiritual needs of the people at any cost. To God, the spiritual aspect of man is the most important in order to strengthen the relationship with Him. For anyone who destroys his or her spiritual life will also destroy his or her relationship with God and thereby acquire eternal damnation. Therefore it is the duty of all Christians to direct, guide and look after the spiritual wellbeing of his fellow Christians. Today’s First

or no sentiment in a soldier. Yet an incident does show his sense of pity. On a certain evening Garibaldi met a shepherd who had lost a lamb from his flock. Since he could not find the animal, he was quite distressed. Garibaldi took an interest in the poor man’s plight and enlisted his staff of officers in scouring the country for the lost lamb. Lantern in hand the soldiers searched, but their quest was futile and they retired without finding it. Next morning Garibaldi’s servants found the general fast asleep long after his usual time. They awakened the general. Rubbing his sleepy eyes he drew from under the covers the lost lamb. He told his aids to take it to the shepherd. The general had continued searching after others had retired. As Christians are we ready to dedicate our lives totally and fully for the cause of Christ, to save souls and to spread the Good News?

Aid Story 2 It was time for the monsoon rains to begin and a very old man was digging holes in the garden.“What are you doing?” his neighbour asked.“Planting mango trees,” was the reply.“Do you expect to eat mangoes from that tree?”“No, I will not live long enough for that. But others will. It occurred to me the other day that all my life I have en-joyed mangoes from trees planted by other people. This is my way of showing them my gratitude." Saying: It is not that THE CATHOLIC CHURCH is WRONG. It is simply that they do not have a place in it to show their human talent, jargon and earn money.

Very Rev. Fr. Ciswan De Croos

Reading compares the faithful to a flock and the leaders, elders and priests to the shepherds. In today’s context this shepherding has to be done by all Christians. The flock, the sheep are innocent and helpless and has little knowledge. Therefore they need constant guidance and help. This has to be provided by the shepherd. It is their main duty. As the Old Testament shepherds did not fulfill their duty properly God promises a Good Shepherd. That was the great need in order to restore the state of the shepherds who were there during the time of Jeremiah. In the Second Reading Jesus Christ fulfills His duty to the letter. He offers His own life in order to save all mankind. Thereby He restores the fallen state of the spiritual life of all mankind. By His sacrifice on the Cross, Jesus restored the broken relationship between God and man, man and nature and among men. Though the faithful of that time had many other needs and urges in their lives Jesus was more concerned about the sinful and the fallen spiritual state of man. For, it is this fallen spiritual state of man that prevented him from making a clean and full relationship with God. Even in the Gospel what Jesus needed was physical rest. But when He saw the faith of the people He began to teach many things. He saw them as sheep without a shepherd. Their urge and their need were spiritual and what Jesus provided them was also spiritual. They too came in search of Je-sus in order to listen to Him teaching. Everyone includ-ing Jesus was burning with zeal for the Good News. Ev-ery other thing took a second place in their lives.

Aid Story 1 Garibaldi, the Italian patriot, who was born in 1807, had a turbulent life. One would expect to find little

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

1. Wielding His authority, Jesus summoned and made the Twelve to be with Him, to be sent out to preach and to receive authority to expel demons (Mark 3,13-19) – thus, His messianic mission be extended through their institution as the Twelve. Then the Twelve were given, during the time of their formation itself, the specific mission to exercise that authority in word – hence, they were to preach – and in power – hence, they were to drive out demons and heal the sick. We deeply meditated on this last Sunday.

2. Now having completed the mission entrusted to them or having participated in the ministry of Jesus, the Twelve Apostles report to Jesus “all they had done and taught.” “People were coming and going in great num-bers, and they had no opportunity even to eat.” Then He wishes to withdraw with them to a deserted place to rest, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” An Amazon explorer tried a forced march through the jungle. The first two days went well. But on the third day, the native porters would not move. They said, “We cannot go on. We have to let our souls catch up with our bodies.” We all need to pause now and then to let our souls catch up with our bodies. We need to set aside a little time to decide where we are going, whether we are going in the right direction and where we want to get. The practice of quiet meditation can yield in unexpected benefits. As St. Teresa said, “Settle yourself in solitude and you will come upon him in yourself.”

3. Nevertheless Jesus’ withdrawal attracts a “vast crowd.” They, having travelled on foot, have beaten Jesus and the Twelve travelling by boat. “They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them.” What a popular enthusiasm for Jesus! What is Jesus’ immediate reaction to this in-gathering? The multitude would definitely break the rest. But He “had compassion” on these people “like sheep without a shepherd.” Despite the fact that the Twelve need time alone with Him, He first responds to

“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while”(Mark 6,30-34)

the greater need of the multitude that seeks His refuge and satisfies their spiritual hunger compassionately by teaching them “many things.” Jesus, thus, gradually shows Himself the faithful shepherd of a new Israel. Moses wished, on being announced of his death, that a leader be appoint-ed by God over His People “… that the Lord’s community may not be like sheep without a shepherd” (Numbers 27,15-17). This wish of Moses was immediately fulfilled in the person of Joshua, son of Nun and eventually, in that of Jesus, God’s Son Himself, as “he began to teach” the vast crowd “like sheep without shepherd” having His heart been moved with compassion for them. Jesus, thus, gradually shows Himself the faithful shepherd of a new Israel. The shepherds of Is-rael, the leaders of Israel, pastured themselves without pasturing the sheep, Israel. Hence God Himself wished to become their true shepherd, pasturing and giving them rest: “I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord God” (Ezekiel 34,15). It is Jesus, His own Son, who fulfills these merciful words of God. He becomes, despite the futile presence of some religious groups in His day (like Pharisees and Saddu-

cees), the true shepherd of the people, who thirst for God’s Word.

4. “And he began to teach them many things.” Jesus re-lates to people in mercy. He reads the hearts of those He encounters and responds to their deepest need. He teaches them in mercy. Let us gaze more attentively on God’s Mercy – the mark of His omnipotence, a tangible reality (not an abstract idea) and the beating heart of the Gospel and rediscover how the mystery of God’s Mercy became living, visible, tangible and culminated in Jesus, the Face of His mercy, through His words, actions and entire Person. May such deep contemplation be for us a wellspring of joy, serenity, peace and salvation. May such deep contemplation lead us to action as well. As His Holiness Pope Francis intends, “In our parishes, communities, associations and movements, wherever there are Christians; everyone should find an oasis of mercy” (# 12, Misericordiae Vultus).

14 July 22 2018The Messenger

“He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while’” (Mark 6,31)

on the basis of our culture and this extends also to those condemned to capital punishment in Sri Lanka. Capital punishment, though it exists in the Statute books, is not carried out in our country mainly because of our religious traditions. Our religions teach us that, human life is a precious thing. For this reason, we can never agree to kill someone. Yet, if there are prisoners who engage in drug importation and distribution or in the perpetration of violence through the underworld causing death to oth-ers, one needs to re-consider that practice and implement whatever punishment has been received by them through the Courts of Law. It is a more complex question if all those who have received a death sentence should be ex-ecuted. There should be a bigger discussion on that mat-ter as such sentences may be flawed. People in prison who engage in organizing such crimes from the security of the prison, are doing a grave harm to society. They commit a grave sin. Thus there is nothing wrong in carrying out the punishment given to them by the Courts. Not all people fall into that special category. They could be identified on the basis of only credible witnesses and solid facts. That is up to the jus-tice system to do. Perpetrators of such gruesome crimes could be considered as having forfeited their own right to life. Because such activities cause death to other people. His Excellency the President has not expressed the idea of executing all those who are condemned to death. We support the consideration he has shown to-wards the upholding of the rule of law. It is a way in which the violent activities of the underworld can be cur-

Contd. from Pg. 1 Archbishop of.. tailed which the State is obliged to do. It is the misfortune of this country that such harmful activities continue to happen with impunity from the prisons” [Lankadeepa, 13th July 2018, p.14]. From the above it is clear that neither have I advocated a re-introduction of the death penalty carte blanche as people seems to have understood nor have I desired to close my eyes and do nothing before this ter-rible phenomenon our country is faced with at present which causes death and violence in the streets and the destruction of the cream of our youth who become drug addicts at an age as early as their adolescence being ex-posed to drugs even in their schools. This is being done by drug cartels operated at times from the prisons. That was the concern and context of my statement. Hundreds of parents have approached our clergy and expressed their horror at what happened to some of their children. Several cases of suicide by youth consuming drugs have been reported to us. The Arch-diocese infact organized two protest marches against drug peddlers in Ragama and in Negombo with thou-sands of our faithful participating and I have listened to the tearful tales of so many mothers whose families have been rendered destitute by the drug menace. Should we wash hands like Pilate and wait till our children are de-stroyed? The Holy Father Pope Francis has in fact not ac-cepted the death penalty which is also my own position invariably. I am not for a generalized return of capital punishment. It should be the last option, if at all. Infact the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that: “Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the

traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only way of effectively defending human life against the unjust aggressor” [Catechism of the Catholic Church, revised edition, 1997 No. 2267].

Thus, I have acted on this matter with a sense of total awareness of the gravity of this situation, in faithfulness to what my faith teaches me on the matter and in consideration of the tragedy that continues to strike our youth and the nation and my responsibility before God and our people in addressing this serious national issue. May I also refer to what Jesus, the Lord, mentioned with regard to those who cause scandal and mislead our children and youth in order to gain filthy lucre for themselves: “It would be better for you, if a mill stone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble” [ Lk. 17:2].

My point is that the State should not bring back the death sentence, but that criminal minds that seek to de-stroy social peace and harm hundreds of others putting into ridicule law and order and challenging humanity to stop them if possible, should not go unpunished for their criminal behaviour even after being condemned. Our youth are too precious to be sacrificed on the altar of philosophical sophistry and arguments. It would be like Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned. Thank you.

@ Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith Archbishop of Colombo

We can never completely escape from the sophistries of pride. However, we can learn to detect it more readily so it does not gain more ground in our soul. At times, inevi-tably, we are fooled by pride, since it tends to entrench itself in us, and we become reluctant to let others help us see our defects. But even if we do not see pride’s face, hidden in so many ways, perhaps other can see it more clearly. If we are willing to listen to their fraternal warning, their constructive criticism, it will be much easier for us to unmask it. We need to be humble in or-der to accept the help of the others. And we also need to be humble if we are to help others without humiliating them in turn. In the end, maturity can be summarized as the “‘healthy psychological prejudice’ of thinking usually about others (The Forge, 861).” The personality God wants for us (to which we all aspire, albeit erringly at times) is that of someone who has “a heart that loves, a heart that suffers, a heart that rejoices with others (Pope Francis, Address, 17 June 2013).”

In the midst of all these achievements, he built a series of churches and chapels and founded many con-fraternities. Quite rightly then, Fr. S.G. Perera S.J., has this to say of him: "But so long as Sinhala is read, the name of Fr. Jacome Gonsalves will be held in benedic-tion as the ‘Father of Catholic Literature’. Up to this day, he is still far and away the greatest Catholic writer in that Language" - Historical Sketches. Fr. Jacome was not to live long. His arduous Missionary errands soon began to tell on his health. He fell an easy victim to acute Tuberculosis from which he never recovered. He died in an aura of sanctity in his church in Bolawatte at the age of 66, within which he was laid to rest. In early 2017, his Cause for Canonisa-tion was opened in Goa and Catholic Sri Lanka should now commence an avalanche of prayer towards this cause, so that soon he will be raised to the honours of the altar and God-willing, be declared as the ‘Patron Saint of Tuberculosis’. No account of the life and deeds of Fr. Jacome in Sri Lanka will be complete without his description of St.

Joseph Vaz towards the end of his life. Indeed, he was overcome by fatigue as a result of his strenuous mis-sionary journeys on foot, frequently foregoing his meals and even going without water for days. This is what Fr. Jacome wrote of Fr. Vaz in 1708. "I have not seen flesh in his body. With his skin, he is only a bag of bones. His appearance brings to my mind what Job said of himself. "My skin clings to my bones" - Job 16-8. Finally, as a lasting monument, Catholic Sri Lanka bows in gratitude to these two gigantic Goan Mis-sionaries, who gave of their extreme "BEST" to the lo-cal Church, after Divine Providence led them into our shores. As a result, the Faith is now well entrenched with 14 Bishops shepherding 12 Dioceses. Had this Goan duo not entered Sri Lanka at the times they did, today none of us could call ourselves Catholic. Herein lies the overall importance of their respective missions. Indeed, Fr. Jacome gave the oil of faith to the loving people of Ceylon and the best of his life to the Land of Ceylon.

From Pg. 6 Maturity... From Pg. 7 The Life of...

In his homily, His Lordship said, “Twenty five years of existence mark the maturity of the Catholic community at Polgahahena. Just like the First Israel, who gave priority to the Ark of the Covenant and the building of the Temple of Jerusalem, we, as the New Is-rael, ought to concentrate on building our Church edi-fice due to its paramount importance." His Lordship said, "The Church is the locus of covenant making and renewal between God and His people. It is the rendezvous where the Babe born at Bethlehem would welcome both the learned, the wise men from the East and the ostracized of society, the shepherds. Just as Jesus grew “in wisdom and age and favour before God and man” (Luke 2), let us advance un-der the shade of the Church.”

Marriage Enrichment Programme, last Sunday at St. Pe-ter’s College, Colombo. Quoting from the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis, Gaudete et Esultate, where the Holy Father Francis says “Look for holiness in the parents who are raising their children with immense love, in those men and women who work hard to support their families ...,” His Eminence pointed to the beatification of the parents of St. Theresa of Lisieux , Luis Martin and Zelie Guerin. They had nine children and four of the sons died at a young age. All the girls in the family joined the convent and became nuns. His Eminence also mentioned that another sister of St. Therese is in the process of being beatified “This type of families are an exam

ples to all our parents and children,” he said. Making a reference to Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis where the Holy Father addresses pastoral care of families, Amoris Laetitia, His Eminence said that it is not sufficient for the Church to prepare the engaged couples, through Pre-Cana classes before they get mar-ried, but that the Family Apostolate should also cater to the needs of the families who are facing challenges in their marriages. His Eminence urged the members of the Family Apostolate to organise seminars like Marriage

From Pg. 1 Marriage Enrichment ...Enrichment Programmes to guide the parents in the dif-ficult task of parenting and bringing up of children. This Marriage Enrichment Programme was pre-sented by the Divine Retreat Centre in Chalakudy, India. The main presenter was Colin Calmiano, a Catholic lay missionary from Bangalore. Glen and Theresa La’rive lead the congregation with hymns and exhortations. In some of his presentations Colin Calmiano dealt with the differences between men and women. They think, feel and behave differently. Appreciating these differences between the husband and the wife is going to help in the mutual understanding and the success of marriage. The presenters gave valuable guidelines to remain in the bond of marriage, despite challenges. Mr. Calmiano also touched on the importance of flow of communications and dialogue in family life to overcome suspicion and unfaithfulness. Spiritual and prayer life enhances this communication. The eight -hour Marriage Enrichment Pro-gramme ended with the Holy Mass and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Rev. Fr. Freely Muttukudarach-chi thanked all the parents who attended the full day seminar and the Archdiocesan Family Apostolate and its Director Fr. Claude Nonis for organising the event. He also thanked Verbum Television for broadcasting and the Jaysons Foundation for sponsoring the programme.

From Pg. 1 Called by...Madampe prior to being ordained a priest on Septem-ber 3, 2017. He then served as Assistant Parish Priest at Madampe. Fr. Nilan pursued a course in journalism and re-ceived his degree in India. He also studied in the United Kingdom for a short period of time. It is reported that Fr. Nilan had been returning to the church after giving English lessons to some chil-dren when the motorbike he was riding veered off the road and crashed into a wall at around 11 p.m. His mortal remains were laid to rest at Lewella, Kandy on July 15. May his soul rest in the peace of the Lord!

From Pg. 1 Silver Jubilee...

XVII July 22, 2018Messenger

“People saw them leaving and many came to know about it” (Mark 6,33)

Young World

Winners of Caritas All Island Debate CompetitionIn a glittering closing ceremony, Hindu College, Jaffna in the Tam-il medium and Rajarata Maha Vidyalaya, Hingurakgoda in the Sinhala medium were crowned winners of the All Island Debate Competition organised by Caritas Sri Lanka-SEDEC held at Aquinas Auditorium, Borella on July 9. The Runners-up were St. Benedict’s College, Colombo in the Tamil medium and Sri Su-

mangala Central College, Wari-yapola in the Sinhala medium. Master J. Kishok of Hindu Col-lege, Jaffna in the Tamil medium and Miss Sadeesha Dinanjalee of Sri Sumangala Central College, Wariyapola in the Sinhala me-dium clinched the 'Best Speaker' trophies for displaying power and eloquence in their speeches. His Lordship Rt. Rev. Dr. Raymond Wickramasinghe, Bish-

op of Galle and Rev. Fr. Mahendra Gunatilleke, National Director of Caritas Sri Lanka-SEDEC, distrib-uted the trophies to the winners. Also present work Rev. Fr. Saver-ian Eugene Francis, Director of HUDEC-Caritas Jaffna and Rev. Fr. Bennette Mellawa, Director of Caritas-Sethsaviya, Anuradhapu-ra who coordinated the debate activities.

- SEDEC

The annual prize-giving of St. Thomas’ College, Kotte was held recently at the College Au-ditorium. The Chief Guests on the occasion were Rev. Fr. Trevor Martin, Rector St. Peter’s College, Colombo and Mr. Srilal Nonis, Director of Education (Western Province). In his address Fr. Trevor Martin said that in a school every Grade from one to thirteen is equally important. In each grade the children are taught, apart from their lessons, good values and social mores in life that would help them become good citizens of the country when they leave College. Education should be tinged with extra-curricular activities to be a success in society, said the doyen pedagogue of St. Peter’s with conviction after long years of his yeoman service in the said field.

Prize-giving of St. Thomas’ Kotte

The annual prize-giving of Loyola College, Bopitiya was held recently, with Very Rev. Fr. Ivan Perera, Na-tional Director Catholic Schools as the Chief Guest. Picture shows the Principal of Loyola College, Bo-pitiya Rev. Fr. Rohan Samantha Fer-nando TOR, presenting a memento to the Chief Guest. Anton Jayasuriya

Prize-giving at Loyola College, Bopitiya

The Under 14 relay team of Ave Maria Convent, Negombo broke records at the Western Province Athletic Meet 2018 held recently. In the 4x100 metres relay, the Ave Maria athletes established a new meet record of 54.8 seconds. Jaane Gayana De Silva established a new meet record of 33.56 metres at the Discus Throw under 20. Ave Maria became the second runners up and ob-tained 5th place in the island.

News Team

Ave Maria Convent, Negombo breaks records

175th Jubilee of Missionary Childhood Society of the World will be held on September 29, this year at the Auditorium of St. Joseph’s College, Colombo. In accordance with the event, the National Office of the Pontifical Mission Societies organised a National Flag Day which was held in all 12 dioceses. The contributions from the Flag Day will be channeled to build a house for a poor family of Higurakagoda in the Diocese of Anuradhapura, where the first Holy Childhood Cell was begun in 1987.

Ponti�ical Mission Societies

175th Jubilee of Missionary Childhood Society

The little kids of Don Bosco Pre School, Dungalpitiya with their parents and teachers celebrated Poson for the first time. Picture shows the Poson Perehera in progress with whip lashes and the traditional sesathas of various decors.

Text: Sebastian PereraPic: E.A.D.Stanley

Don Bosco kids celebrate Poson

“They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them” (Mark 6,33)

XVIII July 22, 2018 Messenger

“When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them” (Mark 6,34)

Your suggestions are welcome. Your comments are deeply appreciated.

You can contact me on 2291540 or 0718004580 as I am in Sri Lanka now for any clarifications.

E-mail: [email protected]

Language Study & English

Grammar

Dear Readers,

This is our lesson 66. In our last lesson we learnt a reading text on the Holy Grail, a poem on Heart to Heart, another essay on the person whom I admire most, phrasal verbs, a Serenity Prayer and some idioms.

In this lesson let us learn about prepositions and prepositional phrases and a lesson on teaching reading.

All free internet sources referred to, and the illustrations copied are duly acknowledged with much appreciation.

Noel Jayamanne

The Catholic viewThe Dictionary refers to a "cross" as a gib-bet, that is a projecting wooden post with an intersecting wooden beam at the top. It was a device used by the Per-sians and the Romans on which criminal of-fenders were tortured and executed. The dic-tionary also explains that it was on such a wooden formation that

Jesus Christ was nailed by the Romans, on which He died. All four Gospels refer to a wooden cross which Jesus carried to Calvary, as every condemned person had to do, on which He was crucified. (Matthew 27: 31-32; Mark 15: 20-21; Luke 23:26; John 19:17) During that time, death by crucifixion was the punishment im-posed by the Romans on those found guilty of sedition.

The paradox of the Cross The cross is historic as Jesus died on it for the sake of humans. From the Scriptural viewpoint, the Cross stands as an everlasting monument to the pas-sion and sacrificial death of Jesus and to His Gospel which leads humans to spiritual truth, wisdom and the reality of salvation. In Apostle Paul's Epistle to the Cor-inthians, he said "For Christ did not send me to bap-tize, but to proclaim His Gospel. And not with beautiful

words! That would be like getting rid of the cross of Christ. The language of the cross remains non-sense for those who are

lost. Yet for us who are saved, it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:17:18) Paul seeks to show the important connection of the cross with the Gospel of Jesus. In doing so, He is mindful that the cross should be present in the message that is preached and in the way it is preached. He explains that while baptism is indispensable to a be-liever, the preaching of the Gospel is the means of pro-ducing the faith to be professed. He also says that those who are blinded by sin will not perceive that the power of God in salvation in exerted by means of the cross. The cross does not place Jesus in the background or over-shadow Him, as some choose to say.

The fundamentalist view Fundamentalists say: "The cross in loved and respected by millions of people. Nevertheless, true Christians do not use the cross in worship. Why not? An important reason is that Jesus Christ did not die on a cross. In several texts Bible writers use another word for the instrument of Jesus' death. It is the Greek word 'xylon' (Acts 5:30, 10:39; 13:29: Galatians 3:13; 1 Pe-ter 2:24) This word simply means "timber", or "a stick, club or tree" "The most convincing proof of all, however comes from God's Word. The apostle Paul says: "Christ purchased us, releasing us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse instead of us, because it is written "Ac-cursed is every man hung upon a stake" ("a tree", King James version), (Galatians 3:13). Here Paul quotes Deu-teronomy 21: 22, 23, which clearly refers to a stake, not a cross. Since such a means of execution made the person "a curse" it would not be proper for Christians to deco-rate their homes with images of Christ on a cross. "There is no evidence that for the first 300

years after Christ's death, those claiming to be Chris-tians need the cross in worship. In the fourth century, however, pagan Emperor Constantine became a con-vert to apostate Christianity and promoted the cross as its symbol. Whatever Constatine's motives, the cross had nothing to do with Jesus Christ. The cross is in fact, pagan in origin." "Why was the pagan symbol promoted? Ap-parently to make it easier for pagans to accept "Chris-tianity". Nevertheless, devotion to any pagan symbol is clearly condemned by the Bible. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) With very good reasons, therefore, true Christians do not use the cross in worship."

Conclusion These sources seek to lead believers away from the truth that Jesus died on a Cross. Contrary to what they say, the Cross acquired a distinctiveness in Apos-tolic preaching of Jesus' Gospel which commenced in Je-rusalem in 34 AD, after the new Pentecost. As Apostolic Gospel teaching spread to other nations, directed by the early Church, (Acts 9:31) the Cross gained prominence as a symbol of veneration in the Christian faith, as it reflected on human salvation through the crucified Jesus. The use of the Cross, however, was not intended to attract pagans to the Christian faith, as these sources say. The Scripture in Deuteronomy in the Old Tes-tament (Deuteronomy. 21:22-23) they refer to, dealt with the penalty of death by stoning under Jewish Law, imposed on an offender guilty of a crime that deserved death, followed by the "hanging of his dead body" on a stake for public exhibition. It was not a "punitive hang-ing" of the victim on a stake, nor was he nailed to it. Ap-parently, Apostle Peter and Paul referred to this Scrip-ture in their teaching (Acts and Epistles) as Jesus too suffered the fate of a "curse" under the Law, as His body hanged on a Cross. In what these sources say in their comment, they imply and at the same time deny that Jesus was nailed to a Cross

E. M. Aldons

The use of the Cross

Among the women in the Bible she was the most faith-

ful and loving follower of the Lord Jesus. She stood with Mother Mary at the foot of the Cross on Good Friday and was by the side of Mother Mary in difficult hours and also the first witness to the Resurrec-tion of Jesus, This power-ful saint is none other than

Saint Mary Magdalene. She was a resi-dent from Magdala, a small fishing town on the sea of Galilee. The red long curley hair doubled her beauty. After meeting Jesus she changed her life wholly and completely. She became a follower of Jesus. Mary Magdalene had seven demons tor-menting her which Jesus

had driven away (Luke 8:1-13) All four Gospel accounts say that women were at the scene of Je-sus' Crucifixion. Mary Magdalene was promi-nent among these wom-en. She was close to Jesus during His life and until death. After sabbath day she and other women prepared spices needed

for the proper burial of Jesus' body. They noticed that Jesus' body was no longer in the tomb. They returned home while Mary Magdalene stayed crying and looking for the Lord. She stayed until Je-sus called her Mary. Thus she was the first person to see Jesus. She was the first witness of the Resur-rection. At that time Jesus

told her, "Go and tell my brothers". ( John 20:17) Mary Magdalene rushed to the disciples with this news have seen the Lord. With these words Mary Magdalene was commissioned as an Apostle to Jesus. She is called "Apostle to Apos-tles." She was chosen by Jesus to be the first to be given the good news of

the Resurrection. Her life is a challenge to us. Mary Magdalene the power-ful saint is an example of great love and of great forgiveness. We pray to her to convert sinners. The feast day of Saint Mary Magdalene falls on July 22nd.

Padminie Nanayakkara

First Witness of Christ's Resurrection - Saint Mary Magdalene(Feast day July 22)

Activity – read and be familiar with Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases - A prep-osition is a word class and it belongs to closed class. It expresses a relation between two entities. For example in “The book is on the table” the word ‘on’ shows a relation-ship between the book and the table. Prepositions link nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence.

Types of prepositions-

Prepositions for place, time, cause, reference, concession, means or instrument sup-port/opposition -

Type

Place

Time

Cause

Reference

Concession

Means / instrument

Support / Opposition

Meaning

Position

Direction

Destination

Passage

Point of time Duration

Commencement point of timeTerminal point of time

Prepositions

at, in, on,

to, away, from, up, down, into underneath

along, across, through

at, infor, in, through during

from, since, after

till, until, upto, by

for, because, of,

with regard to, as to,

in spite of, despite

by, with, without

with, for, against

Examples

in a hall / on the table / at the entranceThey are going to the classroomHe threw a ball into the riverHe went underneath the treeHe ran across the road.

He was born in 1950He worked for two hoursHe worked from 7 o’ clockHe worked till 10 o’ clock He was punished for dishonesty

I write with regard to your request

He was promoted de-spite his dishonesty

I cut it with a blade.

All evidence is against your statement

Here is a list of prepositions- Aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along. amid, among, anti, around, as, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, but, by, concern-ing, considering, despite, down, during, except, excepting, excluding, following, for, from, in, inside, into, like, minus, near, of, off, on, outside, onto, opposite, over, past, per, plus, regarding, round, save, since, than, through, to, towards, under, underneath, unlike, until, up, upon, versus, via, with, within, without

Prepositional phrases – Structure

Preposition

Noun Phrase

wh- clause

-ing clause

in the garden

about what you said

by writing on the blackboard

The term preposition means ‘placed before’ a noun or a noun phrase. The most com-mon prepositional phrase a preposition = noun phrase. Note that even wh- clauses and – ing clause are like noun phrases. Hey too have a nominal function. ‘What you said’ and ‘writing on the blackboard ‘ can be either the subject or the object of a sen-tence and that shows their nominal function

Functions of prepositional phrases. (i) He is reading a book in the library. The function of in the library is adverbial (ii) All the children of my class are present [ post modifier of the noun phrase all the children](iii) I do not like to depend on others ( verb complement)(iv) He is clever in flattering ( adjective complement)

Activity 2 – Study the following lesson carefully and try it out with your studentsThe Emperor Akbar and his Courtier

Akbar, the great Mogul Emperor of India, had a very intelligent court-ier. His name was Raja Birbal. One day Akbar boasted that he could please any person in his empire. Hearing this, Raja Birbal started laughing.

Then Emperor Akbar said, “ Birbal, why do you laugh mockingly ? Am I not able to give my subjects anything they wish to have?”

“I’ll tell you why I laughed,’ Birbal said. “ Can you prove that you are able to give any person what he wishes to have? I am sure you can’t please even a little child.”

“I don’t understand what you mean. Don’t you know that I am the Emperor of In-dia?”“It is true that you are a very powerful ruler. But that does not mean you can please everybody.”‘Birbal you have to prove that I am wrong? Then I will accept what you say.In reply, Birbal told the emperor that he would come to the palace in a cradle the following day. “Let us see how you are going to please me then,” he said.Akbar agreed.The following day, Birbal’s men brought him to the pal-ace in a cradle. Birbal was lying in the cradle and sucking his thumb. When he saw the Emperor, he began to cry.Akbar wanted to know why he was cryingBirbal told him that he wanted to drink some fresh milk off a cow. So the Emperor got him some fresh milk. When Birbal had finished drinking it , he began to cry again.“What do you want now?” asked Akbar.“Put the milk back into the cow.” Said Birbal and began to

cry louder. The Emperor then realised that he could not please anyone.

Task 1 - Learn the delicate shades of meaning of the following words taken from the textEmperor - ruler, sovereign, monarch, king Intelligent - brainy, bright, smart, gifted, cleverEmpire - territory, realm, kingdom, domainMockingly - scornfully, insultingly, sarcastically Powerful - dominant, influential, commanding, Accept - receive, take, admit, agreeSucking - drinking slurping, lapping, extractingPlease - satisfy, thrill, entertain, gratify

Comprehension tasksTask 2- Complete the following sentences choosing the correct answer from (a), (b), or (c)

[1]Emperor Akbar boasted that he could …. (a) Please a little child in his empire. (b) Please any person in his empire (c) Put the milk back in the cow[2] ……………… was the name of an intelligent courtier. (a) Akbar (b) Birbal ( c) Mogul[3]When the Emperor boasted …………. started laughing. (a) Raja Birbal (b) Birbal’s men (c) a child [4]Emperor Akbar asked Birbal to prove that ……………… . (a) Birbal was wrong (b) Akbar was wrong (c) the men were wrong[5]When Birbal saw the ………… , Birbal began to cry. (a) child (b) men (c) Emperor

Task 3- Answer the following questions in complete sentences1. Who was the great Mogul Emperor of India?2. What was Raja Birbal?3. Who laughed mockingly?4. Who came in a cradle to the palace?5. What was Birbal doing, lying in the cradle?6. When did Birbal begin to cry?7. When Akbar wanted to know why Birbal was crying, what did Birbal tell him?8. After drinking the milk, what did Birbal do?9. When Birbal began to cry again, what did the Emperor ask?10. What did the emperor realise at last?

XIX July 22, 2018 Messenger

Luke 8,1-3: “Afterward he journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infi rmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.” Mark 15,40-47: “There were also women looking on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome. These women had followed him when he was in Galilee and ministered to him. There were also many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem … Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses watched where he was laid.” Matthew 27,55-61: “There were many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him. Among them were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee … But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary remained sitting there, facing the tomb.” John 19,25: “Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.” Mark 16,1-8: “When the sabbath was over, Mary

Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. Very early when the sun had risen, on the fi rst day of the week, they came to the tomb. They were saying to one another, “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back; it was very large. On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were utterly amazed … Then they went out and fl ed from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Matthew 28,1-10: “After the sabbath, as the fi rst day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb … Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! … Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage ...” Luke 24,1-11: “But at daybreak on the fi rst day of the week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not fi nd the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrifi ed and bowed their faces to the ground … And they remembered his words. Then they returned from the tomb

and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others. The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles, but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them.” John 20,1-18: “On the fi rst day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other dis-ciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” … But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher … Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her.”

What does the Bible say about Mary of Magdala?

XX Messenger July 22, 2018

A Window into Culture

Our Lady Beauty of CarmelOur Lady Beauty of Carmel never did she err.Under all circumstances wear her Scapular.Readily she'll help, she'll make us free

Lady of Carmel will release us from purgotary.And plead for us when we die.Daily Pray to herYou'll be saved, Don't fret or sigh.

Beauty of Carmel, a beauty indeed.Everloving beauty pray for us we plead.Angels and Saints and people on earth,Undoubtedly acclaim her beauty from birth.

Truly a beauty, not only in face,You see her beauty in all her ways.

Of rare beauty, Beauty of Carmel,Free us from sin, free us from hell.

Carmel beauty help us we pray.Always to follow Jesus our life our way.Relying on your interceeding power,Mary we come to you dear Mother.Earnestly to seek heavenly treasures.Learing aside all worldly pleasures.

Emilda S. Douglas

‘I have rheumatoid arthritis and sometimes I am up all night because of the pain,” said Panduka. “I am lucky then because I don’t have pain all the time,” said Ayesha. “Yes, there are people who live with pain day in and day out and there are others who complain even of a mild pain,” commented Mithila. “If you are after an operation or after a fall,

By Sirohmi Gunesekera

Pain

THE FOUNTAIN OF BLOODThe fountain of Blood of our first priest and king,

Is the only fountain of Blood that cleanses us from sin.

The Fountain of Blood flows sweetly with virtues divine,

To cleanse all souls completely unworthy and sin-ful as yours and mine.

The Fountain of Blood guards and makes us pure,

And heals our wounds and gives us an infallible cure.

From the Fountain of Blood, Peace Pardon and Salvation does flow,

Lives, pleads, soothes and bless us with all the graces we never know.

So let us praise the fountain of Blood with a heartfelt song,

And at our last moment let us breath, our last breath with a

silent stammering tongue

J. A. Dulcie Perera

you must expect pain but after two or three days, you get used to it and can adjust. Even painkillers mean that your body gets used to it and sometimes you have to take more,” Said Ayesha. “I also know people who pray to God and have obtained the strength to cope with the pain,” chimed in Panduka. “Yes, I think that a strong faith can help to cope with the pain” said Ayesha. “Anyway, we must learn to live for each day and night for tomorrow is promised to no-one So if you have a problem today don’t consider it as forever. As the saying goes, ‘This has come to pass, not to stay’. Sometimes, you have a bad period in your life but you should not dwell on it for every cloud has a silver lin-ing!” remarked Mithila. “That is easy to say but when you are going through a hard time, it is hard to smile. I think that we must learn from those who undergo harsh winters to face each day even if the sun doesn’t shine. We in Sri Lanka don’t know what winter is like with the cold and the dark. We have the sun shining throughout the year” said Panduka. “So let us thank God for our blessings and start counting them” concluded Ayesha.

chosen through the eyes of mercycolomboarchdiocesancatholicpress.com/archive/2018... · 7/22/2018...

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