Issue 02 - The Pilgrim - February 2012 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

Features The Pilgrim February 2012
Bookcase
How to pray the psalms
My favourite book
Mike Guilfoyle, a former probation
officer, and a parishioner of St Mary
Magdalen, Brockley, chooses Life and
Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng,
first published in 1987.
After being imprisoned in 1966 for
falling foul of Chairman Mao’s Red
Guards, Nien Cheng found herself in
a nightmare society where anyone
could find themselves accused of
being a ‘class traitor’ or ‘capitalist
lackey’.
In this climate of surveillance and
suspicion, people were subjected to
endless interrogations, captivity, humiliation,
torture and death.
Even those driven to commit suicide
by their tormentors were
deemed to have carried out a
‘counter-revolutionary’ act.
Cheng’s courageous and luminous
character shines through the pages of
her memoir in the darkest days of
her being an inmate of No 1 Detention
House, Shanghai.
This resulted in her health seriously
deteriorating. So much so that
she lost her teeth.
During most of the six-and-a-half
years of her imprisonment she remained
unaware of the fate of her
only daughter, Meiping, a promising
dancer at the Shanghai Film Studio.
She died at the age of twenty-four
in detention for refusing to denounce
her mother. Cheng only discovered
this after her release in 1973.
Yet her love for China remained
undimmed in spite of her struggles
and suffering.
She settled in Washington DC
where she wrote her deeply moving
testimony, described by the Washington
Post as “one of the foremost
prison diaries of our times”.
A convert to Christianity, Cheng
noted how throughout the years of
her imprisonment she had turned to
God and felt his presence in the
confines of her cell. She died in
2009, aged 94.
In reading her stunning memoir, I
recognised that our salvation lies in
engaging with the ‘now’ of our lives.
And if we can discern the true value
of life in adversity by hearing the call
of the present moment, then we can
discover the grace of God in the
world.
New children’s
biography of
Pope John Paul II
New Malden author Joanna Bogle
has published a biography of Pope
John Paul II for children.
Blessed John Paul the Great
tells the story of his life, stage by
stage, and is illustrated by Kati
Teague.
“Each page tells a separate
story about a stage in his life. It is
aimed at making the life of this
remarkable man accessible to
young children,” said Joanna.
The book is published by
St Paul’s Publishing.
Father Victor Darlington, who teaches
Scripture at St John’s Seminary, Wonersh,
begins a new series exploring how the
psalms can help us to pray.
My mum was a dedicated Catholic who loved
and cared for her six children in the best
possible way. She lived in a rural village in
Ubiaja in Mid-western Nigeria, deprived of
the basic necessities of life.
Even in her poverty, she took the more difficult
option not to remarry after the death
of my dad in 1973, and further committed
her entire life to God.
She would always say, “I am in love with
Jesus, and with Him I can take care of my
children.”
In her last year, when her health was failing,
she struggled to attend daily Mass, and
considered it sinful if she was unable to.
When she died two years ago, in my grief I
was able to relate to some of the lament
psalms. I questioned God bitterly for not
hearing my prayers for my dear mother and
not allowing her to reach her 80th birthday.
It took me a while to realize that God did
answer my prayers, in a different way. He
called my mum home, because she always
prayed not to be debilitated by sickness.
She always told me that when she dies she
would be in a better place where she can intercede
for us better. I recall how she
warned me particularly not to cry, and mourn
without hope, but to always say Masses for
her.
I just could not accept these words at the
time. Only now I can look back with gratitude
to God for truly answering her prayer
and granting her wish.
Although, I still miss her warmth, love and
reassuring words of faith. I believe she is
with God and, like the psalmist; I will praise
God for my mum, all my life long.
The Hebrew word for the psalms is
Tehillim, meaning ‘praises’. The book of
Psalms contains some of the most beautiful
passages in the Bible.
Written in Judah and Israel over a period
of 800 years, after the Exodus in 1300 BC,
the psalms powerfully express faith, hope,
and speak on behalf of the down-trodden and
oppressed in society.
Seventy-four of them are believed to be
the work of David, twelve others by his son
Solomon, and the rest by professional musicians.
Written in poetic forms, many of the
psalms affirm and express a range of human
experiences: joy and praise of God’s goodness;
sorrow and lament; contrition; sickness;
and misfortune in life.
Even in these challenging situations, the
note of trust and confidence in God’s goodness
shines through.
The psalms express a practical spirituality
of the Jewish people, as a chosen people.
They have a personal relationship with Yahweh.
God is ‘Abba’, ever caring and loving
and out of His love
When I was growing up, we were not allowed
to have a bible, so praying the psalms
was completely out of reach. The Psalter was
primarily for the ordained ministers and religious.
Today in many churches parishioners
gather for morning prayers before Mass to
pray the psalms.
The Church now encourages all Christians
to pray the psalms as a way of identifying
with our common human origin. We are God’s
chosen people, like the Israelites, and we
face the same challenges in life.
‘Jesus’ to give talk in Dover
Actor James Burke-Dunsmore
will be talking in
Dover about his experience
of playing Jesus in theatre,
TV and radio.
James’ performances
have included The Life of
Christ at Wintershall in
Surrey and The Passion of
Jesus in Trafalgar Square.
He also runs workshops
for both children and
adults to explore the
teachings of Jesus through
theatre.
His talk will be at 7 pm
on February 21 at The
Carmel Centre at St
Edmunds Catholic School,
Old Charlton Road, Dover.
So when we pray the psalms, we pray for
ourselves, we hear our voice and our own
story as it unfolds in line with the voice of
others who lived before us and those still
alive experiencing the ups and downs of life,
yet trusting in God’s goodness and deliverance.
As Christians, our purpose in life is to
praise God and to affirm our faith in Him at
all times. We do this always through the
sacraments, and through our personal life of
prayer and praise.
Praise is totally God-centred, and the
psalms of praise can be effective in accomplishing
this. People often sang them, prayed
them in the fields, or at home. And these
prayers of praise over the centuries brought
consolation and courage to generations of
Christians.
In praying the psalms, we recognise and
accept our own story; we acknowledge the
reality of life and the need to remain faithful
to God.
In the months ahead, I shall take some
specific psalms and relate them to our
experiences.
For those experiencing joy, for those in
grief and sorrow, for those who are discouraged
in life, you are not alone.
Turn to the psalms, praise and challenge
God with your situation, and see light again
at the end of the tunnel.
Page 10