August 20, 2018,

     Look at that. It’s almost the whole month gone again. Before I get stuck into a quick record of the month of August up till now, let me say that we prayed for Aretha Franklin, my home girl, from MoTown. Queen of Gospel music. May she rest in peace and received a big reward for all the people who were touched and moved by her singing.

Aug. 23, 2018,

    One of Trump famous tweets has just arrived here in South Africa. Here is his tweet:

   “ I have asked secretary of State @sec.Pompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. “South African government is now seizing land from white farmers.”  (Donald J. Trump)

This is typical of Trump. He has no clue what he is talking about and he spouts out statements that are pure lies. There have been no “farm seizures and expropriations” and, although there have been occasional attacks on white farmers, as a matter of fact, these attacks are at the lowest number in a long time, so you could hardly say there is a “ large scale killing of farmers”—white understood). Where does h. e get this crap from. Probably FOX NEWS. No wonder. If any news source is a master of “fake news”, it is my humble opinion that FOX NEWS is the winner, hands down.

      To put things into perspective, way back in 1913 there was a law that was passed, the Land Act of 1913, that divided the country into two parts, 87% for white habitation, and 13% for black habitation, the black part being later subdivided into several tribal homlands. However, the fact is that 4/5 of the population, even at that time, was black, and only 1/5 was white. In other words, it was a recipe for disaster. It was just a matter of time till the cooking pot would explode. Of course, the poputation has increased since then and the vast majority of the 60 or so million is now mainly black. You can check on Google to find out the exact figures.

During my 50 + years here in S.A. I have witnessed forced removals of blacks from so-called “ black spots”, where black (and in some cases, Indians and so-called Coloureds) were just removed from their land and dumped somewhere else. There was never a thought or hint of compensation.

     Of course, many white farmers are frightened by the rhetoric of people like the leader of the EFF, (Economic Freedom Fighters) who are radicals and encourage the forceful take over of white land. Our next door neighbour, Zimbabwe, is an example of what could happen and it is right on our doorstep. But I am convinced that the SA government is aware of the fact that we would become another basket case, like Zimbabwe if we go in that direction. They are talking about government land, which is plenty, and tribal lands under chiefs, city land (wanting to have title deeds for even a small plot), as well as farm lands.

     Trumps approach is to use fear as a motivation. The same here for those who are radically pushing for expropriation of land, just grabbing the land, without any compensation. There is no doubt that it is a worrying problem right now, but we are dealing with it.

    But let me change the subject now and kind of go back over the month till now in my ordinary life.

We had the funeral of a beloved priest, Fr. Manny de Passos on the 2^nd of Aug. There were more than 60 priests there. One wondered if it was fake news about the shortage of priests. The parish put on a huge feed for the unexpected crowd and it was clear that he really was beloved by his flock.

     From the 3^rd to the 7^th of Aug. I had a friend from Cape Town visiting. Fr. Roger Hickley. We are old friends. He said he would like to experience some Durban prawns (we call them shrimp). So I deluged him with Prawns (and me, shrimp curry) in two different places. He says the prawns here in Durban are better than the ones in Cape Town. We also visited some friends and had good conversations.

     On Sunday the 5^th we went hob nobbing. The Bishops from the SA Bishops conference were all here for their semi-annual conference and we popped in on the evening social where I was able to re-connect with the bishops I worked with when I worked for IMBISA in Zimbabwe and met some of the newcomers to the bishops oonference. They all remark on my lovely red socks. I don’t know how it got started but it has now become a trademark.

   We had another funeral on Thursday the 9^th. Sr. Lucas. She celebrated her 50^th Jubilee two weeks before. She was dying then of cancer. She managed to celebrate with the rest of the community. 1 was 65 yrs. 2 were 60 yrs. And she was 50 yrs. “Nunc dimmitis servum tuum Domine”.. Now you can let your servant go , Lord.

It fit her situation.

    On the 11^th I had a funeral for a man who was not exactly passionate about attending church but who was a very good man, as was clear from the church attendance. The church was full and even some outside. There are other things that God judges by and not just church going. I don’t mean to belittle Sunday church, but read Chapter 25 of Matthew’s gospel, verses 31 and following and you’ll see what I mean. After this experience and a home mass the following week for those who came from far to be at the funeral (Australia, US. England) some decided to give church going another chance, I think. At least that is what they say. It may wear off soon though.

    I was asked to take a mass and give a homily at the Assumption Parish in Durban on the 16^th, the day after the feast of the Assumption. For those of you who don’t know what that is all about, the Catholic Church decided that, because Mary, the mother of Jesus, was without sin (how could one be God’s mother and be sinful. One would have to be clean, clean and pure to have that honor, is the thinking. It would not be right of God to be forced to have someone as God’s mother who was tainted in any way), and death is a punishment for sin, why should Mary have to rot in the grave like all of us sinners. So, it was declared that she was assumed (taken up) into heaven without having to undergo the decomposition that goes with death. They didn’t say whether she was taken up while she was alive or after she had died, but they leave that open. It just wouldn’t be right that she undergoes decomposition like us sinners will do.

   Anyway, they asked me to share my thoughts on the relevance of Mary for Catholics and other Christians today.  I won’t go into the details here but the life of Mary, Mother of God, saying yes to that cloudy honor, not knowing what other yeses that one yes (Let it be done to me according to your word…remember?) was going to entail later on down the line. The suffering she had to go through watching her son carrying his cross, humiliated publicly for a crime that he never committed, dying horribly on the cross, taking him down in her arms, etc. etc. etc. not to mention her humility going to visit her relative Elizabeth, humbling herself, doing all the house work, washing the dishes, doing the laundry, sweeping the floor, etc. etc. etc. all the usual housework that any house wife would do, while looking after her elderly relative and attending to her needs and at the same time getting a preview of what she would soon be going through when it was her turn to give birth. Yes, Christmas, her giving birth. Silent night…. Holy night. Nonsense. That is cosmeticizging the reality. It was cold and scary, in a barn with a bunch animals, far from home, no friends or relatives to be around, the first experience of giving birth, what to do with this child, how to look after it in these unheigenic conditions, etc. etc. etc. and then having to run for it to Egypt because someone wanted to kill the child. No interstate buses to Egypt at that time. And it is a long way on foot.

   

    I am thinking that those many women who had to run for their lives from Syria or the ISIS or whatever, and those who have had the experience of losing a loved son or child to violence and so many other things should easily be able to identify with this Mary. She has been there and done that. They didn’t have T shirts at the time or she would have collected a whole wardrobe of them. I didn’t think that most of the reflections on Mary came from the scriptures. Lots of non-catholics get the wrong impression about our reverence for Mary. No, she is not God and we don’t worship her, but we have great respect for her as most people for their mom’s and grandmothers. It seems in most languages if you really want to insult someone, use bad words against one’s mother. I once heard someone swearing in Arabic.Wow. I think the other guy got the message.

    After the Mass I had supper with a family, the father of whom I have known since he was a teen-ager. He will soon be 70 and is a chemical engineer. He has some comments to make regarding climate change. Interesting.

    I had the opportunity to take me friend of more than fifty years, Shirley, to lunch for her 84^th birthday. She still has painting classes and supports herself by her paintings. She also gives workshops. One day, I tell her, we will say, yes, I knew her, she was a friend, because she will be so famous by that time. You can google her or check her out on Facebook (yuk) and you will see that she is truly gifted. Her parish priest also came along. He was the chauffeur for us old timers. We had some great conversation during the delicious curry meals. That was on the 17^th of Aug. It was her birthday the day before and it was the birthday of her becoming a catholic in 1971. A long time and lots of water over the dam in the meantime.

  On Saturday the 18^th, I got my prescriptions at the Chemist (pharmacy). Half a disprin a day to keep the blood a bit thin so that it doesn’t clot . (I had two DVT’s already) and something as a diuretic to keep the blood pressure from going up too high (the last time I saw the doctor, about two months ago, when he checked my blood pressure, it as 120/80. I’m not lying. I didn’t pay him to say that either. I am just lucky.

Then we had a braai-vlais ( a cook out). Once in a while there are a bunch of guys who like to do something for us old timers and it is really appreciated. The company is good, the food is great, it is something different from our usual routine, and the drinks (ahem!) are appreciated.

   I had an evening Mass after that and then was invited for supper at Estie’s where there is some of the best curry you will ever experience. I am both lucky and blessed.

   Earlier on, that day, I couldn’t find my umbrella (it rained a bit) and looked all over our house and even went back to the hospital (I usually don’t go there on Saturday) remembering that I had used it one day going to the hospital, but no luck. So I just gave up. Gone. That’s it.

Monday the 20^th, a friend who is a mechanic came over and fixed my clutch. It was very very stiff. I think that if I was left-legged, I get so much exercise with that leg that if I was going to kick a football, it would go clear out of the park. I will take it next week for some other work, one job of which is to change the cam belt. It has never been changed since I have the car and it is a 2005 model. If that breaks, you are in real trouble. I hope it holds out till next week.

    I want to give a retreat to our youth (mostly high schoolers) in October and I was checking the cost of the Mission Center which is self catering and all utensils are provided. It is R130 a day, so, for two days, what we would need, it would be R260. I was thinking of asking them to pitch in either R100 (that is a lot for these kids) or R50 ( more in their range) and pick up the rest via our socio-pastoral fund, which is the fund that you feed when you give me money or send something to Fr. Tom Szura. I am so grateful for that. It has helped so many people in so many ways.

    I have been in contact with my family in Zambia (the Kalidas’) and they assure me that they are willing to finance a trip to Zambia when I get back from the States on my home leave. I leave from Johannesbug and fly to Lusaka and from there, a week later, to Durban. It seems that that is on the cards.

     I had three “services” with students (10^th grade) here are the old folks home last week and this week. I enjoy interacting with the young people. They prepare the prayers, opening and closing, read the readings, have some bidding prayers (praying for different things that they have on their minds and in their hearts) and, after a closing hymn, and prayer, I give a blessing. Most kids at the catholic schools are no longer catholic and I was reluctant to force them to attend a Mass. There are only 2 or 3  catholics out of 15 or 16. So we talk about being a good Christian.

    An old age episode. On the 22^nd, I went, among other places, to the department store to get a new umbrella since I just couldn’t find the old one, a big one. Ha. The young lady asked if it was for a lady or a man. I said it didn’t make any difference to me if it was a lady’s or a man’s umbrella as long as it keeps the rain from falling on my head. Ha.  They only had these small things that fold up into almost nothing. OK. I took it and hung it up in my room. Then the young former care-giver who helps out from time to time to earn a bit of money (she can’t find a job after doing her care-giver training), came to clean up my room a bit.  As a kind of afterthought, I asked if she just might have seen a green umbrella around somewhere. To my great surprise she said, yes, but it was blue. (Blue, Green, they are almost the same aren’t they?) it was on the veranda where I had put it to dry out. But I had put it over a chair and it had been moved far down the line to another place. However, I was delighted to find it as I had already given up on it. Now I have two umbrellas (where is the poverty???) I am keeping the small one in the car and the big one here in my room. Old age sucks sometimes.

  Tomorrow I start a retreat with school teachers. It starts Fri. night with supper and goes till Sunday lunch. I want to use a projector to show two films for them to reflect on , one is “ Mr. Holland’s Opus” and the other is “Romero”. I hope I can still remember how to set up the projector and connect it to the portable speaker on Bluetooth. Hmmm.

    Anyway, that is more than enough, and much more than I intended for now, but at least I am caught up. I till go to the hospital every day at 6am and visit the sick in their homes, and do odd chores around the house like washing the dishes after breakfast and even after lunch if I have nothing special to do. I have been well trained by a diligent mother.  Love and Peace to you all. Cas.