CATHOLIC HOLY YEAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27276, 30 December 1949, Page 6

CATHOLIC HOLY YEAR

Sir,—Nearly 2000 years ago there came a Stranger walking along the hot, dusty roads of Palestine. He wore sandals on His feet and a cloak on His body: He wore no robe with a 22-foot train, nor did He wear any jewelled mitre studded with rubies and emeralds, nor did He have a flowing gold-embroidered mantle. He had no gaily-dressed bishops to guard Him. nor any bodyguard. He came from His father’s workshop, where He had toiled for many years. He came to teach, but He never entered any gaily-decorated building to preach. No, He climbed the Mount, and upon seeing the multitude among the lilies He began to teach them, without any symbols whatever, nor did He proclaim any Holy Year: He just taught the plain, simple truth—Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God. This Stranger never had any great mansion to live in. nor even a place to lay His head. He was meek and lowly as a child. How different was His life on earth from the life of the one who stands today as His representative in Rome, proclaiming a Holy Year to men everywhere who have rejected the teaching which that Stranger from Nazareth taught nearly 2000 years ago. There can be no Holy Year until men become holy.—l am. etc., Christian.