De Mortuis, Nil Nisi Bonum
I have to admit that I was supremely surprised to read the U
S Presidents remarks concerning the death of the late Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez.
Granted Chavez was no particular friend of America
I saw a statement by the U S President,
I don’t know if that was his only statement; but I must say it lacked both
grace and diplomacy. Grace because I do believe that however cold the
relationship between the two countries, good manners demanded at least a
cursory expression of condolences to the bereaved family and people. Diplomacy,
because a wise President would know, that saint or sinner, the late ruler’s
people loved and adored him. A statement, therefore, seeking to express hope of
good relations with them in the future, but failing to express regret at his
passing, is shallow, mindless and counterproductive.
In fact it would have been better
for the President to have said nothing at all, than to have said what he did
say. By not speaking well, he may well
be deemed to have spoken ill of their dead President.
Since I was a child and as far back as I can remember, Easter was a special time of the year. In those days, there were no Easter eggs, and Easter hunts, no sunrise services and the like. Easter Sunday meant the end of Lent, which meant we, could play loud music every day except Sunday, and wear bright colors to church. Also the songs we sang in church were bright and cheerful in contrast to the dull and mournful tunes we sang all through Lent.
ReplyDeleteThe week before Easter Sunday was called Holy Week, at the end of which were Holy Thursday, also called Maundy Thursday, the day on which traditionally hot cross buns were made, followed be Good Friday, a day which we spent in church worship, (three hours from noon to three p.m,) followed by Easter Saturday. My parents cooked for Easter Sunday, did roasts, baked breads and cakes, and put out our brightest and best clothes for Easter Sunday Morning Service.
On Easter Sunday all the adults, including children who had been confirmed, went to church and received Holy Communion, which was also one of the two days in the year on which even the drunks attended church and partook of the Lord's Supper.
After Church everyone returned to their own homes and stuffed themselves with Sunday dinner, have a good rest and wake up on time for the Sunday afternoon Cantata, which was always well attended as well, even the drunks showing up to enjoy the singing and the recitation, even though there was no wine served. A feature of Easter Sunday was that the Choir would exhibit their best choral voices by signing an anthem in the morning service, and one in the afternoon during the cantata.
Easter Sunday was followed by Easter Monday which was a public holiday. This meant picnicking on the beach, by all and sundry and was usually also the day when the Sunday Schools would march to the beach, para military fashion for their Sunday School treat, consisting of bubs or cakes and lemonade, the funds for which were provided from the Sunday School collections handed in by the children each Sunday throughout the year.
Today, Easter has lost much of its meaning and like Christmas is much watered down and secularized compared to what it used to be.
Easter is not a fixed date, although it was fixed by the Council of Nicaea, in 325 to be the first Pascal full moon after the March equinox, which means sometime between March 22 and April 4 each year. But Easter will always be for me, the happy reminder that Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ will come again. One of the hymns we used to sing on Easter Sunday was "Welcome Happy Morning."
Be it morning, noon, or night, he will return. And when He does come, I pray I will be ready.Welcome Happy Morning