April, 10, 2020

It is Good Friday, and this is the strangest  Holy Week of my life. No normal services. On Monday, 6^th, I did my little laundry and managed to find the key to get to the outside and hang my clothes out on the line outside where they could dry nicely in the hot sun. On Tuesday, I finished the job by doing the ironing. I was prepared to go to the pharmacy to pick up some medical things but Bishop Paul Khumalo did it for me. I am grateful for that. He is the one who is out almost every day in charge of the buying of the things we need for every day stuff here in the house so he goes from one shop to the other till he can find one that has what we need. There are still crowds of people who ignore the order to stay at home, but it is understandable that many eat from hand to mouth and have to go each day as they don’t have enough money to buy in bulk.

Wed. I tried, unsuccessfully to contact Time Magazine and Skype to give them the new details of my renewed Credit Card. Hopeless. They keep shunting you from one site to the next and want to give you a deal on a new subscription….everything but what you want. In two or three days, I spent hours on the internet to no avail. I finally gave up and said just to cancel the subscription.

Holy Thursday, 5 of us old timers celebrated the mass of the last supper together. One is blind, two others can’t hear, and three of us did the readings. No foot washing. Ha. None of us could bend down to wash our own feet much less someone else’s. But it was meaningful.

Good Friday, only two of us came together to do the Stations of the Cross. The others decided to do their own thing in their rooms. Looking after the homeless and those afflicted by the virus are the ways of doing the foot washing this year.

When I went to the monastery to get the internet, I heard a commotion outside my window, that got my attention. When I pushed aside the drapes, I saw a man lying on the ground surrounded by young men with sticks and among them were some of our students who are staying at the monastery now because their school is closed.

Each time he tried to get up they beat him with the sticks. I presumed that he was caught stealing. I was woyndering if I should go out and tell them that this is not the way Jesus would solve the problem but, being white, with all the left overs of apartheid, I figured that they would probably tell me to get lost, the time for taking orders from a white man are over now. But I was ashamed that the members of our religious community joined them in their scolding the man, if not actually beating him, and approved of his being beaten.

    I talked to one of these young seminarians and he said that it was right to beat him so that when he went back to the village with all the bruises, etc.  the others would see what happens to thieves if they want to steal, especially from the monastery. I couldn’t convince him that I was sure that this is not the way Jesus would have solved the problem.

    I know that it is useless to call the police because they will keep him overnight, maybe even beat him themselves, and then release him the next day so that he can go back to his stealing again. But I am still convinced that this is not the way Jesus would have solved the problem.

It is Holy Saturday today and we won’t be having the Sat. Evening service with Christ the Light, the fire and the Easter Candle. We will only celebrate Jesus triumph over sin and death tomorrow morning at the Easter morning mass.

You are all in our prayers during this trying time. Many has lost hope. Easter joy and hope are irrelevant for them, they think. They need money to buy food and medicine, etc. but they are not allowed to go to work….a real dilemma. And the lockdown has been extended another three weeks.

We pray for each other these days and try to help and support one another as best we can during these very difficult times.

I still say Happy Easter under the present circumstances. The virus has stirred up a lot of love that was sitting idle in our spirits and we thank God for that while we pray for wisdom and courage to go along with our love to guide us as to what to do.

Love and Peace, as always,   Fr. Cas.