EDITORIAL

WOMEN’S JOURNEY TO FREEDOM

BY Rafael Armada | EDITOR

ON 9 August 1956 a multi-racial group of 20 000 South African women led by Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Sophie Williams–De Bruyn, among others marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria asking for the derogation of the pass laws, a system imposed by the Apartheid government which controlled the movements of black men and women within the country. These women passed on a memorandum in which they demanded, not only their right to free movement but better education for their children, the end of forced removals and other human rights to be respected as well as the end of the system of racial segregation. To commemorate this peaceful march, South Africa declared 9 August National Women’s Day; by extension, this month became associated with women.

On 1 April 2003, in the heat of a devastating war in Liberia, between President Charles Taylor and various militant warlords, Leymah Gbowee—later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize—mobilized hundreds of Christians, Muslims and internally displaced women for peace.  Wearing all-white clothing they gathered at the fish market every day for a week. They sat, danced, and sang for peace. 

As the week went on, over 2 500 women held a candlelight prayer vigil urging Taylor and the rebels to negotiate the end of the war. The international community joined the call too.  On 11 April the women marched through the streets of Monrovia proclaiming: “The women of Liberia say peace is our goal, peace is what matters, peace is what we need.”, while hundreds more joined the back of the group as it passed their homes.  Their march concluded at Monrovia’s Municipal Office where 1 000 women assembled, demanding a meeting with Taylor. On April 23, they met him; some presented the President with a statement onstage while the rest sat in the audience, holding hands and praying.  After the meeting, Taylor agreed to attend peace talks.

Next, the group targeted the rebels.  A contingent of women travelled to Freetown, Sierra Leone as the warlords would be meeting there.  Locating the hotel where the rebel leaders were gathered, some of the Liberian women lined the streets while others sat in front of the hotel, refusing to leave until they were given a meeting with the warlords.  Their sit-in brought media attention, helping to further spread their message of peace to the international community.  The women soon met the rebel leaders and convinced them to attend the peace talks. (nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/)

These are two examples of the many initiatives for freedom led by women. We might ask ourselves: what do these both have to do with women and mystics, the theme to which this edition is dedicated? There is, however, a deep connection between them. Mystics embark on a journey of liberation geared towards communion with a God who sends them to humanity. The world and humanity are at their heart and they persevere in loving them, in a direction led by the Spirit. Mysticism and transformation become, therefore, two sides of the same reality, communion with God and care for the common home and her dwellers.
Happy women’s month!

MISSION IS FUN

Special collection

BY Fr Konrad Nefzger | MCCJ

THERE WAS an old tradition at Maria Trost that after lunch the Fathers and Brothers would pay a short visit to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament before recreation. One day, as they were on their way to church, the sacristy door opened and the little collection bag appeared, together with a long stick, and eventually Sr Anastasia appeared, holding the bag with a firm grip. “Now what?” was their first reaction, because neither the Fathers nor the Brothers were used to putting something into the collection, not even on Sundays and certainly not during the week. But, as it turned out, Sister had already taken the collection. And now, she emptied the bag, but out of it came, not money, but a frog, followed by a stern command: “Hamba, wena!”

VOCATION PAGE

Vocation and mysticism

BY Fr Raul Tabaranza

AS VOCATION promoter I am getting to know better about the aspirants’ life, prayer habits and involvement in the Church.  During a recent Prayer Hike, in “The Wild”, Johannesburg, the participants were reluctant to have Mass in the forest, next to a dried pond.  “Mass should only be in the church, father, on the altar!”, they said. However, as they accepted to have Mass there, we sat on the ground and celebrated it in communion with nature.  They were greatly amazed by the experience and they also shared deeply about the contemplative walk, previously done, and about the Mass itself. At the Summer Vocation workshop, during the adoration to the Blessed Sacrament, we sat down on the floor, surrounded by candles and incense, and spent an hour of guided meditation and silence.  Again, our young aspirants were amazed by it—as if that was a new experience to them.

As we discuss in this issue about women and mysticism, we can apply it to Vocation or to Youth and Mysticism.  We need to instill into our young people the discipline of contemplative prayer so that they may learn to listen to God´s voice and to find wisdom for whatever they are facing in their lives. In order to become good leaders and missionaries, some mystical paradigm shift is required, being trained in a dialogue of heart with God, and to discover how to help other young people to be closer to God.

We organise activities of sharing and deepening of faith for our aspirants, but also worship, giving them a space to grow, serve and affirm each other.  It is necessary to develop young mystics, individuals with an experience of oneness or union with the divine; creating a habit of care, support and respect and developing their own vocation.

Workshops can be a good avenue for contemplative prayer.  Anyone can be a mystic.  We may not reach a deep absorption with the divine, but we can always deepen our connection with God through talks, silence and nature, letting go of our own self, towards a closer union with Him.  What we need is just to embrace the mystery of God.

FRONTIERS • CAPUCHIN POOR CLARES

CONTEMPLATION AND MYSTICISM IN AN AFRICAN CONTEXT

Contemplation, far from leading or preventing the psychological growth of a person into what is called maturity, actually enhances it

BY Fr Christopher Neville OFM | Melville, KwaZulu Natal

Joyous Spirit

Union with Christ is sought at the Monastery at Melville in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. It is a joyous experience for the nuns and for those who enter the environs of the Monastery as day visitors, approaching their Repository, or coming to pray or stay over in the Guest house for Retreats or holidays.

The Capuchin Poor Clares focus their lives on the Paschal Mystery of the Lord; submerging themselves into the Passion and Death of Jesus, they joyously move to celebrate the lived experience of His glorious Resurrection.

They choose to be immersed in Christ and allow Him to infuse them with Himself. During Days of Recollection or Desert Days they ask themselves, questions along the lines of:

• what belongs to the heart of our charism?
• what depends on the changing conditions of time?

Due to this ‘introspection,’ the community is alive and vibrant and the nuns can proclaim the Gospel through their daily lives to individuals or groups who come seeking advice on how to handle their challenges of daily living and to find Christ within themselves and others as well as the situation itself.

Due to South Africa being fairly young in Christian lived experience—the Monastery is only 91 years old—the Nuns don’t carry the baggage of a long history as in a European context. Here, they are full of life and joy as they live their daily lives of prayer and work within the Monastery in a simple, child-like and trusting way.

Ubuntu and a Franciscan blend

I am not a person unless I am connected to other people, says the African Proverb. In Zulu: “umuntu, Umuntu ngabantu.” This coupled with the Franciscan spirituality coming through Saint Clare as these nuns bask in the Presence of the Lord, enables them to be the real people they are.

What stands out, and everybody who visits the Monastery mentions it, is the experience of pulsating peace already at the grounds. The charism of the Poor Clares is clearly alive and well experienced here. The joy of the Gospel truly fills the hearts and minds of all who find Jesus and this is evidenced here.

As Mandy, one of the friends of the Monastery put it, having brought a beautiful pottery item placed in front of St John’s Hall: “The nuns have found their pot of gold, it is up to us to find ours”.

“The nuns have joy which flows out of their selflessness”, as one of the men from the group of Christ the King Parish, Wentworth, Durban who came for a weekend Retreat about a month ago mentioned.

Eucharistic life and devotion

The nuns’ lives are rooted in the Eucharist, the celebration of the Holy Mass and the Adoration of our Lord in the Sacred Host. What do they do during their hours spent before the Blessed Sacrament? Basically, nothing!

They begin by lifting to our Lord a ‘prayer note’ from the pile in the ‘prayer basket’ left by visitors to the Monastery or requested via WhatsApp or email.

“The nuns have found their pot of gold, it is
up to us to find ours”

Then they use a word from the Sacred Scripture or from the writings of Clare, Francis or some other spiritual or Theological work which feeds their minds and souls and enables them to ‘rest’ in the Lord.

The experience can be dry or fertile. It doesn’t matter. They pitch up for their meeting with their Beloved Spouse. This takes place night and day. It is not seen by them as a duty or obligation, but an act of pure love. It is no wonder that people who come here as guests or retreatants comment on the selflessness of the nuns.

Daily Rhythm

The day is punctuated by common prayer; from Lauds and Office of Readings at 06h00, after praying the Angelus, to Hora Tercia after Eucharist which is celebrated at 07h30 during the week and at 08h00 on Sundays. Hora Sexta is prayed at midday after the Angelus and followed by the Rosary.

Hora Nona is prayed at 15h00 followed by Divine Mercy Chaplet which is sometimes sung. Benediction is at 17h00 followed by Angelus and Vespers which, as Lauds, is usually sung. Then, the proclamation of the following day’s Gospel, reflected upon using Lectio Divina, can lead into Centring Prayer.

A light supper is enjoyed around 19h00 and if it is a Thursday, feast day or Sunday, recreation follows supper; the community gathers for Compline at 20h00 which is followed by the Mother Abbess giving the blessing of St Clare.

Reverence for the Eucharistic Presence: The world at their heart

After the final blessing of St Clare there is a grand silence during which the Nuns take turns to be with the Blessed Sacrament; continuing to bring the needs and gratitude of the world to the Lord.

It is no wonder that they are filled with respect for one another and the world in which they live. All who come to the Monastery are amazed at their great joy.

They have left the world but not fled from it but have a great love for it and its people.

They sacrifice an active life of ministry for something deeper and better, not for themselves to gain benefit, but for others.

As one of the members of the Catholic Men’s Movement from Durban said:” The world is in bad shape, but if it was not for people like these Nuns, it would be much worse shape than it is.” The rest of the group agreed saying that he had expressed their own sentiment too.

Simplicity

When there is load-shedding during recreation time, it is a source of delight to hear the Nuns groan and their joyous laughter when power is restored.

They are truly childlike so this is a further reason for them being so full of our Lord.

As Jesus said, ‘Unless you become like a little child, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God’ (Mt 18:3).

Sweet fragrance of their holiness

What struck me deeply during the Easter Triduum as the people staying here from Chatsworth commented also, is that the Nuns pray deeply with no rush, really talking to and listening to God. 

They are people of prayer. Beautiful liturgies e.g., Eucharist, Divine Office, Benediction, Rosary, Divine Mercy.  The hymns are spot-on regarding the different themes of the word of God in the Eucharist. 

They have left the world but not fled from it but have a great love for
it and its people

They sing like angels. I am not the only one noticing this and commenting on it. Sometimes they thrum, i.e., cause the very air to vibrate as the Celestial Host does in Heaven. Their praying with singing goes out to the broken world. 

I remain and grow in awareness that this is holy ground.

Grounded in the Lord

Like anyone, they are probably sinners, but certainly repentant sinners, so they don’t stay down but get up again and try again.

They listen to one another. Every time I have needed to be in conversation with any of them, I have noticed it. This comes from listening to God in prayer in daily life.

This has challenged me and others too as it is so easy to hear somebody, using physical ears and the brain, but genuine listening to another person involves the heart and the spirit. This ability surely flows out of their time spent with our Lord listening to Him, their True Love, their Spouse. They support one another e.g., a faltering in a hymn etc. Others have also commented that they love the way the nuns walk; gently and recollected, except when there is great need.

Care and compassion for any weakness of another

I have been asking myself since I got here: Where does this care come from?

Their time spent alone before the Blessed Sacrament certainly, is fed by their celebrating the Eucharist, Divine Office and community life. I take delight in hearing their chattering and laughter when they recreate together and I am walking past. This too goes out into the world. A bigger privilege is joining them for recreation and having meals together. Vibrantly but gently chattering and conversing.

Holy Ground

I know that I am living with genuine, real human beings. This all takes me back to their time spent personally in the Presence of our Lord in His Eucharistic Presence.

What happens there? What do they do? It is very personal and deep for certain.

Does their mind wander as mine does? Perhaps. Do they doze a little sometimes, as I do? Perhaps. Do they enter into moments of darkness as they allow our Lord’s Light to shine into them? Perhaps. Or even entering into darkness through the awareness that Love is not being loved. The important thing is that they are faithful.

Women-religious can teach us male-religious a lot; they are impacting the world.

They are making a difference. They are bringing God to the world and the world to God. St Therese of Lisieux never left her convent but she is the Patroness of Missionary work.

Personal bliss in their midst

Here I am well. I have never felt so well in my adult life for such a prolonged period. I came to them pretty washed out and look what they have done for me already. My wish to our Lord is that I end my days here as long as I do not become a burden to them. I would not wish to be the reason for an interruption to their beautiful rhythm of daily life. 

Everybody who has come to see me has told me how well I look and that I am glowing. Some pains I have but it doesn’t matter. We are deeply linked in praying for one another’s intentions and therefore for the people we have promised to pray for. Their rhythm of daily life is affecting me very positively and I pray that I remain open to it.

Liturgy which uplifts souls

Drumming for Consecration in the Eucharistic prayer is acceptable in the Church and is beautifully carried out here. Also, during the fourfold blessing at Benediction which is a Poor Clare tradition here in Africa, it is acceptable and beautifully done.

They are bringing God to the world and the world to God

Flower arrangements during a week of Anglican Retreat in the Monastery part of the Church were beautifully done in the shape of stars; with flowers brightly nestling in the middle of them. Lifting minds and hearts to celestial heights. The way they are all so calm and peaceful. Radiating our Lord. The Anglican clergy commented on this too. Purity and joy shine out of them all. They have no idea how they radiate our Lord with their humility too. I grow more and more in the awareness that this is holy ground for sure.

FEATURES • SOPHIE WILLIAMS

The Lord´s Call in this Season of my life

In a reality where thousands of homeless people feel abandoned in the streets of Pretoria, Sophie Williams, 62, is dedicating her life to them. Originally from Western Cape, she founded Mountains and Valleys, an organization which serves hundreds of homeless people a day in Eesterust Township

BY Sr M. Marta Vargas CMS | Pretoria

When did you start getting involved with the homeless community?

At the age of thirteen, I already knew the streets. Nobody had taught me what was right and wrong. My mother and father worked most of the time. We would see them on weekends, but my father was often drinking and there were always fights at home. We did not really have a mother and a father.

I left school after grade nine. I made the wrong friends and ran away from home. I ended up living on the streets from the age of 15. And from about 18 years of age, I found myself homeless, in the streets of Marabastad, Pretoria.

So, it all started on the streets. What happened after?

While living there I met a guy, one of the most abusive persons I have ever known. He used to beat, abuse and rape me until I became pregnant with my first child and stayed like a prisoner in his house. I gave birth to a baby daughter and after a few months, I became pregnant again.

The man, after smoking “dagga”, used to beat me until I couldn´t scream any more. After giving birth to the second child, I told myself: “I need to run away from this man because he is going to beat me to death”. One day I did so and left my two children with him.

I went back to the streets and started selling myself as a prostitute to make money so that I could leave Pretoria and take my children to Cape Town. Nobody in my family knew where I was.

How did change come into your life?

When I was a child, on Sundays, my mother would say: “don´t be lazy and go to Church”. I used to go with my siblings. There was a lady there who played the guitar and I loved to see her.

Back on the streets, I became pregnant again. I met a white lady who told me: “You look like somebody who doesn´t know any life outside this. Don´t you want to come and look after my children and I will pay you?”. She took me in at my advanced stage of pregnancy. I know now that it was the Lord opening a door for me so that I could leave the streets.

One morning, while I was looking after her children, I saw that man standing outside. He was going around looking for me all the time and he took me back to his place. He tried many times to murder the baby inside me. He even gave me money for an abortion, but I couldn´t do it because I already felt in love with the living creature inside me. He continued beating me, but I didn´t run away anymore.

One night, after giving birth, he tried to burn the child. That night I prayed: “Lord I don´t know you, I don´t know who you are, but I was in Sunday School and I heard about the God who could help me when I am in trouble. I am talking with that Lord that I heard of when I was a child: if you are there and you know about me, please help me. If you take me out of this mess and take me away with my three children, when I get home, I will serve you”.

Today I serve the Lord by giving my whole heart to the people in the streets where I once was

That is the reason why I serve and love the Lord today; because He helped me in a wonderful way. He took me to a policeman, to whom I explained that my family stayed in Western Cape and I ran away from an abusive man with one baby, but I left two other children behind. So, the police in Pretoria phoned those in the Western Cape and they arranged my trip to go back there, with my three children.

Back home I heard the Lord´s voice: “Isn´t it that you made me a promise?”. I answered: “Lord, I am going to serve you”. I gave my heart to the Lord and I asked for forgiveness and He forgave me. He took me from where I was and brought me to a place where I can be myself and serve Him.

How do you serve Him in your daily life?

Today I serve Him by giving my whole heart to the people in the streets where I once was. I know how they feel, I know their pain in the streets. That is the reason I feed hundred to three hundred people every meal, every day.

This is a passion, a calling, something inside me, to give myself to the people on the streets. That is what I am doing at the moment and I think that I will always do it, because this is not something that somebody puts in your heart, but the Lord called me for such a mission.

You find impatient people, rude or with no empathy; but the ruder they are, the more you love them, the more they do wrong to you, you just want to do good to them.

After all these years of work and transformation, who is God to you?

God is the love of my soul. I love Him, He is my saviour. When everyone rejected me, He became my pillar. I feel like I am His favourite because He saved my soul, and He changed my whole being. I was a wrongdoer and He changed me into a loving person. I was a fighter, but after the Lord found me, I became who I am today. He is my everything, I love Him.

How do you experience His presence in your service to the poor and homeless?

I can see God in what happens every day; the way He provides food, not just for me, but for all people. I experience Him in the people as He opens doors to bring people together. He opens people´s hearts to bring and donate food so that I can go out and live the life the Lord called me to; to feed people wherever I go, to serve Him through giving and through loving them.

I experience Him through His Word and, also, when people are in need and I can pray with them and guide them in the right direction.

What does it help you to remain doing this work of charity in difficult times?

When things are not right, I go to a quiet place and just by being there, in His presence, I know He will sort out all. In His presence I find serenity.

People will disappoint you. Some people will help, but will not walk the whole road with you; when they become tired, they don´t worry if you are sorted out or not, but God will never disappoint you. He will not forsake you or leave you. Even when it is dark you will find in Him the solution.

What is the purpose of Mountains and Valleys, the organization which you founded?

The name Mountains and Valleys comes from what the Lord called me for: “Go to the mountains and valleys and seek the lost sheep, take them and bring them to the house of the Lord”.

It is an organization for homeless people. Homelessness is usually linked with substance abuse, a pattern of behaviour in which even children can be involved. The other day I took a pregnant mother out of the bush, two weeks before giving birth, so we could save the child who is now waiting for foster parents.

Homelessness is usually linked with substance abuse, a pattern of behaviour in which even children can be involved

At our main office, we have the admin staff and people volunteering to prepare food. Three times a day we give out food, from Monday to Sunday. Sometimes it goes up to eight hundred or nine hundred meals per day. Some come to our kitchen, especially mothers with their children, but mostly food is distributed in ´hot spots´.

We also run other programs to reach out to people, pray for them, listen to their situation and try to make it easier for them. There are special times when others will also donate clothes that we will distribute as well.

Many people have lost everything in life, they even lost themselves. Through this organization the Lord gives me the opportunity to serve them, to bring them in and to help them restore their lives.

SPECIAL REPORT • EDITH STEIN

A free and liberating woman

Edith Stein was born in Breslau, Germany, on 12 October 1891. A Jewish philosopher, she converted to Catholicism and entered the Discalced Carmelite Order where she took the name of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She died in Auschwitz concentration camp on 9 August 1942 and was canonised by St John Paul II on 11 October 1998

BY Fr Francisco Javier Sancho Fermín OCD, Theology PhD | University of Mysticism, Ávila, Spain

To enter into Edith Stein’s personality, into her message for today, is not an easy task. The multidimensional display which is visualized in her life cannot be explained with only one colour, even if the direction of the brushstrokes makes us look upwards. We will try, then, to unravel in its master lines this fascinating work of art that is the biography of Edith Stein.

When in 1983 the German Post Office issued a stamp of Edith Stein, it justified it with the following words: “Edith Stein is one of the most significant German women of our century. People of various vocations, confessions and from all continents have recognised in Edith Stein—as a Jew and a Christian, as a scientist and working woman, and as a victim of violence—a Follower of Christ. Her goal was to help people, who considered themselves Christians, to build their lives. She was especially concerned with making women aware of their roles in society and in the Church in their ´struggle´ for equal rights”. (Hackert 2018).

Search for Truth

Edith Stein defined herself in her life as a “Follower of Christ”, a concept of which she became conscious after her conversion. But before, in her atheist and agnostic stages, she was also a follower: “Search for the Truth was my only prayer” (Renata del Espiritu Santo 1998). She pronounced these words referring to the years that preceded her conversion.

For Edith Stein, the authentic man is the “Truth seeker “ (Wahrheitsucher). A truth that becomes the centre of all human efforts and responds to the deep and spiritual interiority of the human being. It is a truth that necessarily comes to find the Truth: God, who is the personification, the face and the name of that same Living Truth. In the Science of the Cross Edith writes: “He who walks after the truth lives above all in that inner centre, where the investigative activity of the understanding takes place; if one seriously tries to seek the truth, and not to accumulate mere isolated knowledge, perhaps he/she becomes closer to God than he/she imagines to be because God is truth itself.” (Stein 2006)

Trajectory of life

In order not to get lost in purely theoretical reflections, we should focus directly on the fundamental phases which mark her life, trying to discover the message and attitudes that she offers us by her example. But let us not forget that the fundamental attitude that animates her being, and gives unity and consistency to it, is her sincere search for truth.

If we look at her childhood, we discover a girl who conforms herself to the traditions in force in her home: devout Judaism. When she reaches adolescence, a time of crisis, of endless questions, of searching for the meaning of the self, she consciously abandons religious practices which she finds empty of meaning and a simple traditional inheritance. An attitude that nowadays is so common among teenagers, and that may be even “positive” as long as it is a first step on a path of search and life approach, since the basis of religion, of faith, cannot be only a cultural attitude but a personal conviction which must become a living experience of the Mystery.

University

When Edith enters university and chooses to study psychology, philosophy and history, she does it motivated by a personal vocation, as well as her restlessness to find the meaning of human existence. When she encounters Husserl’s phenomenology, she realises that searching is not enough. For this search to be effective and give positive results, it must be accompanied by some basic attitudes which must permeate the whole path, the whole life. These are detachment from all personal, cultural, social and intellectual prejudices, and a continuous attitude of openness. Both attitudes are complemented by an active search, sincerity, objectivity and humility, which prepares the person at all times to welcome new truths and to break off with the acquired ones if they are discovered to be not so authentic.

These dispositions of the spirit, together with the work of grace, are what opened the way for the atheist Edith Stein to “culminate” her search in Christ.

In the Catholic Church

But her life does not stop there; at first, she falls into the easy temptation of “pietism”, believing that she has reached the final goal. Soon she realises and discovers that it is now, starting from baptism, that the journey really begins. The search for Truth is always progressive, the goal is not definitively reached, it is necessary to continue advancing.

In her journey within the Catholic Church, she discovers new attitudes that complement and give full meaning to her vocation: her scientific activity cannot be closed in personal interest. Her ability is there as a gift for humanity. It is when she discovers that this activity has not only a material value but a profoundly apostolic-theological value, insofar as it is a contribution to the search for the authentic. Therefore, it is also a service to humanity. One conclusion is evident to us from her attitude: the decisive factors in the choice of a profession are the interior vocation and the dimension of service to the community.

Service to humanity

This vision of profession as an apostolate, of service, is an indispensable point in the living out, so urgent today within the Church, of witnessing with life to that union existing between faith and culture. There can be no rupture, quite the contrary. From the experience of God´s love, one easily arrives at the love for human beings. And from the love and respect for human beings, Love is reached. Edith Stein’s path is an example of this. Suffice it to recall the title of her great work: From the Finite Being to the Eternal Being.

Now one could ask: In what sense is this unity discovered in her life? Fundamentally, it can be seen in her dedication to the problems of women, who were strongly marginalised in all sectors of society and in the Church herself. Her service was not carried out as a “revolutionary or fighter” – it was more profound. The recovery of human rights can be achieved from a clear awareness of the anthropological being of woman and man. In her personal vision, this is of utmost importance because it is an essential part of the search for truth that must be carried out not only by the individual but also by society itself and the Church. Again, the character of progressiveness-activity appears strongly. There is no endpoint.

Carmelite nun

In her life as a Carmelite, the last phase of her biography, she teaches us something more. The attitude of searching and openness is also her foundation here. The aspect which is discovered with greater force in this stage is the Absolute of God. Her experience and interpretation of history acquire a theological character. The signs of the times are also the Word of God. The difficulties, the problems, the Nazi persecution, etc., have a message. Their profound suffering is marked by the redemptive sign of hope, mysteriously present in the Crucified One. To unite oneself with Him at this moment is to give expiatory-apostolic value to pain. She does not seek suffering but accepts the cross that the historical moment entails. In faith, she discovers that, even in human impotence, incapable of overcoming so many situations on its own, much can be done. Only from this standpoint, can we discover the value of her martyrdom.

Finally, I would like to share a thought that may seem to us very suggestive and key in Edith Stein’s life. It leads us to think and to propose the direction we want to give to our life. Our realisation will depend on it. Edith tells us:

“What a person offers for their freedom and the purpose for which they give what they offer, decides the destiny of that person”.

SPECIAL REPORT • THEORY OF ATTACHMENT

Mystical experience:“being with” the other

We are relational by nature. Relationships are part of our DNA and an essential constituent of any human being. We could even say that before being “rational”, or developing our reasoning capacity, a bond must have been formed. We are born to enter into relationships, being that a necessary condition for our brain
to mature and for our own survival

BY MARIA NOEL FIRPO | psychologist, Segovia, Spain

THE THEORY of attachment (Bowlby 1969), illuminates our “being in relationship”, understanding human development as a relational process. Attachment, which has nothing to do with being “attached” to something or someone in a negative way, is “any behaviour by which an individual maintains or seeks proximity to another person, considered stronger and more capable. It is also characterised by the tendency to use the primary caregiver as a secure base from which to explore unfamiliar environments and to return to as a refuge in times of alarm” (Bowlby, 1980).

Bond of security

That primary caregiver, at best our mother or father, is the one who takes us out of our stressful moments—hungry, sleepy, cold, etc.—when we are babies. The experience we have when we feel bad, and someone responds to our call, gives us a feeling of protection from the world around us. It regulates us emotionally, generating basic confidence that our discomfort will be calmed, that it will not last long and that with someone we will feel better. The opposite can be devastating. This primary bond is necessary for human survival, as social beings, sensitive, connected and capable of relating to others.

These mutual exchanges that take place between caregiver and baby, after a while become internalised, achieving what is called an “internal operating model” (Bowlby, 1969), which will become a way of being in relationship, of “being with the other”. The attachment experience does not remain only as a memory but continues to be present, transferring to other relationships. Such internal operating models organise the subjective experience, and lead us to ask ourselves: am I worthy of being loved, will the other person listen to me, will he/she accept me, will he/she be interested in what I say, will he/she come to my aid if I need him/her, and so on.

The answers to these questions will be based on the experiences we have had. Therefore, our identity, besides being intrapsychic, is intersubjective.

We have the potential to transcend the limits of our own history, breaking the chains that transmit insecurity, mistrust, fear, etc

It is expected that the baby has a “safe base” to turn to, knowing that the adult will quickly respond, be good enough, provides support, regulates the moments of alarm and together with him the longed-for calmness returns. We need this in different ways throughout our lives. We are always fragile and in need of others. If we have been moderately satisfied, with the presence of an optimal, sensitive and contingent primary caregiver, we can feel safe with others, be ourselves and be confident. Otherwise, if the person has not been sensitively cared for, or if he does not have the certainty of having been loved, he will establish relationships with the illusion of obtaining love, consideration and attention. He will live with this thirst and we can see the consequences. He/she will be waiting for the attachment figure not to abandon him/her, using any kind of strategy to achieve this or otherwise, “disconnect” so as not to resort to it. All this is very complex and exceeds the scope of this article, but it is part of the needs, desires, anxieties and interpersonal dynamics, which will accompany us in our relationships with others.

Not determined

Although attachment occurs throughout our lives, the person with whom we have this relationship varies. At the beginning it is the parents, as we grow up it can be a teacher, a friend or a partner; we ourselves may be attachment figures for others, but the function that is fulfilled is always the same: to provide support, to calm and to regulate emotionally. The most encouraging thing about all this is that if the experiences have not been positive, those patterns can be modified in the light of new bonds. We are not determined.

To argue this, we rely on neuroscience, specifically “neural plasticity” (Ansermet, F, and Magistretti 2006), as the brain’s ability to be modified by experience. With a new experience of a deep bond, the traces of a previous one can be transformed. Where there is an authentic person-to-person connection, each time more special, deeper and unique, that relationship is transformative as new ways of “being with” the other emerge. This invites us to believe that we have the potential to transcend the limits of our own history, breaking the chains that transmit insecurity, mistrust, fear, etc.

This applies to us, but we also have the possibility of helping to change dysfunctional patterns in the people we relate to. In this way, the attachment theory helps us to understand how our bonds make us who we are and how we put ourselves into play in our relationships with others. St John of the Cross says: “Alas, who can heal me” (C6). It is not a therapy, nor a medicine, it is a relationship with someone, who always repairs and heals.

Teresa of Jesus, master of interpersonal relationships

Relationality, moreover, is the central characteristic of the God of Christians. Created in the “image and likeness” of a loving God, of a Trinitarian God—three persons in relationship— we could say that “we are relationship”. This is expressed to us by the mystics, people who know the mystery of divine communication to the point of living an intimate and close relationship with Him. They feel fully loved by God, accepted and welcomed by this community of divine persons. They experience that God has the face of one who only knows how to love. Mysticism is the science of love.

Teresa of Jesus, a nun, woman and mystic of the sixteenth century, knew how to go beyond the walls of the cloister with her foundations, her writings, and with her extraordinary ability for relationships. This also helped her in her relationship with God. She tells us that she was a favourite daughter, that the sisters valued her for her sympathy and her joy in service, that she had grace in her conversation, and that this made her feel loved, “I used to be a friend of those who loved me well” (CC3,2). In her letters, we see that she was as much at ease with merchants as with the King. She lays bare her soul shamelessly before her readers, her sisters, confessors and inquisitors. Knowing that she is loved by others and by God generates in her a basic confidence that overflows her. The human being learns to love by first being loved by those main caregivers we have seen. In the spiritual life, it is also like this: we become aware of the previous loving attention of God, and after that comes the human response to the divine initiative. This is God’s style: He loves us by making us capable of loving.

God: Secure attachment figure

Teresa only wants to tell of the wonders that God has done for her. She invites us all to experience this transformative relationship, knowing that if we are truly committed, we will not be disappointed. She brings us closer to a God who is permanently desiring to relate to us: “Never, daughters, does your Bridegroom take His eyes off you…He is not waiting for anything else but for us to look at Him, and He is so pleased when we look at Him again, that His willingness for it is never short “ (C26:3). If we connect it with what we have discussed about the attachment theory, God would be a secure attachment figure, with whom we could experience a relationship in which there is someone capable of loving us unconditionally as we need it. Approaching Him and relating to Him, transforms us. A religion based on a set of pious practices does not make us better people, but what transforms us is the intimate encounter with God. In the mystical life, He is always the protagonist, the One who goes ahead. If our relationship with God does not result in a renewed self, a recreated being, all our actions are worthless. It is the being that must be recreated, from egocentric to other-centric. And we cannot achieve this alone but in relationship.

Prayer as friendship

As a teacher of spirituality, St Teresa speaks of prayer—attached behaviour—as “trying to be friend, often in solitude, with the One we know He loves us” (V8,5). Friendship is the term with which she defines her relationship with God. She relates her experience telling us that as a consequence of it, her life was “much improved and stronger” (V28,18), “…I saw myself as different in everything” (V27,1).

A relationship of acceptance and self-giving. Recollection shapes our personality. Teresa of Jesus teaches us to become aware of a Presence: Someone who is with us, but who surpasses us, and who, at the same time, leads us to our authentic true human being and to our neighbour.

The beginning of mysticism is the beginning of that “other life, a communion of longings and labours with Jesus. Teresa never loses sight of the fact that the glory of God is the salvation of the person, understood as the assumption of the communion of the Trinitarian life, to participate in that relationship. She clarifies that the mystical path does not consist in building “towers without foundation”, but to grow in love. “It is not a matter of thinking much, but of loving much” (4M1,7). Her style is always very plain, direct and without affectation, even when she speaks of spiritual themes. The essence of her mysticism can be summed up in “no, sisters, no; works, the Lord wants, and if you see a sick person to whom you can give some relief, do not give yourself to anything and lose that devotion…” (6M 3:11). The Thou of God will always refer us to our neighbour, to our brother and sister. The mystical life does not exclude anything that integrates human life.

If our relationship with God does not result in a renewed self, all our actions are worthless

Friendship does not have a totalitarian term, it is always on the way, so this process never ends in this life, we will always be committed to more. In this way, relationships grow in interiority, they are healed and we live more fully in our constitutive relationship with God. That God who is never exhausted, who is always a Mystery.

FOCUS • NGOME MARIAN SHRINE

Tabernacle of the Most High

The most famous Marian shrine in South Africa, at Ngome, North of Kwa-Zulu Natal,
has become a pole of attraction for thousands of pilgrims who experience spiritual graces immersed in an atmosphere of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and devotion to Mother Mary

BY Fr Wayne Weldschidt OMI | Good Shepherd Retreat Centre Director, North West Province

Sr Reinolda and the beginnings of Ngome

Little is known about Benedictine Sr Reinolda May OSB and her involvement in the development of the Ngome Marian Shrine. From the accounts of Fr Michael Mayer OSB, the Rector of the Shrine (before I arrived as Rector in May 2010), we have the following information about the establishment of the Shrine.

Sr Reinolda had taken up her nursing ministry at the Benedictine Hospital in Nongoma, in which
she ministered and taught as a midwife

Between 1955 and 1971 Sr Reinolda was purported to have received 10 apparitions from the Blessed Virgin Mary, who requested “that a Shrine be erected in the place where seven springs come together” on the property of the Church known then as the Ngome Farm, an outstation of the then Mission of Nongoma. It is purported that the Blessed Virgin Mary introduced herself as the ‘Tabernacle of the Most High´ and promised that in this Shrine her “graces would flow in abundance” and that “many people shall turn to God.”

By the time Sr Reinolda ‘received’ her purported communication from the Blessed Virgin Mary, she had already taken up her nursing ministry at the Benedictine Hospital in Nongoma, in which she ministered and taught as a midwife. She was also involved with the catechism of the local Catholic community of the Nongoma Mission.

The Hospital had a chapel in which Holy Mass and Adoration were daily celebrated. Sr Reinolda was particularly committed to the Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and would often take her student nurses to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and invited them to begin the day with Holy Mass. She was in the habit of taking the person to the chapel before the Blessed Sacrament for prayer if there were any serious medical difficulties experienced by those coming to the Hospital for the delivery of their babies. Invariably, some grace was granted, and the danger was averted. Her love for the Holy Eucharist impelled her to spend quiet time before the Lord, entrusting her day and her ministry to His grace and mercy. This she also taught to her students.

Sr Reinolda was also known to have taken her young nursing sisters to the Ngome Marian Shrine to pray for their own personal needs, especially the success of their studies, thus establishing in many of their hearts a personal connection with that holy place and a deeper trust in the love and mercy of the Lord and the care of Our Blessed Mother.

These were some early signs that Ngome Marian Shrine would become, for many, a spiritual home in which many profound needs were offered to the Lord in prayer, through the intercession of the Tabernacle of the Most High, the title now popularly used by pilgrims who visit the Shrine.

Further developments

Through the grace of God and careful discernment by the Church over some time, the place was recognised on the Ngome Farm, since it had many springs. Urged by Father Ignatius Jutz, Bishop Aurelian Bilgeri of Eshowe allowed Brother Jacob Riedmann to build a small chapel on the Ngome farm in the area where the seven springs were situated. Father Ignatius blessed the chapel on Pentecost Sunday in May 1966.

Today Ngome Marian Shrine is one of the most loved and visited holy sites in Southern Africa, of which the Catholic Church has the great privilege and responsibility of being the custodian

Meanwhile, Sr Reinolda felt the need for a picture of Our Lady. With the consent of Bishop Bilgeri and the support of Archabbot Suso Brechter of Saint Ottilien, artist Joseph Aman, from Munich, painted the picture according to the instructions given to him by Sister Reinolda. Once the chapel was erected, the picture of Our Lady, portrayed as the Tabernacle of the Most High, which had originally been put up in the Ngome school, found a permanent place in the little chapel.

On 31 August 1985, a larger chapel, which was built opposite the original chapel, was blessed by Bishop Mansuet Biyase, the Local Ordinary at the time. Joseph Aman’s painting of Our Lady was then transferred to this chapel.

On 3 October 1992, Bishop Biyase blessed an open-air altar at the Shrine and declared the Ngome Marian Shrine a “Place of Prayer”. In December 1996, the Benedictine Sisters of Twasana, took up residence at the Shrine in service to the pilgrims who visited, and in keeping vigil before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

On 04 October 2003, Bishop Jabulani Nxumalo OMI, dedicated the big chapel built at the Shrine, after the increase of pilgrims visiting the Shrine.

In May 2010, Fr Nkululeko Meyiwa OMI and myself arrived to take up ministry at the Shrine. Fr Andrew Knott OMI arrived a year later to join the team of Oblate priests ministering here. Together we re-visioned the Shrine by developing a sustained spiritual programme to assist those coming for prayer at the Shrine. Various Oblate priests spent periods of time ministering at the Shrine during this time.

In 2013, Bishop Thaddeus Kumalo, the Local Ordinary, announced that he wished that the Shrine would become the official Marian Shrine for Southern Africa. This was due to the large number of pilgrims who frequented the Shrine from the countries in the Southern African region, accompanied by priests and religious.

In May 2021, Fr Siybonga Dube OMI, began his ministry as Rector of the Shrine, upon my being moved to another ministry.

Pillars of Devotion at Ngome

The task of the Oblate community ministering at the Shrine is to assist those, who come for prayer, to make a meaningful pilgrimage, under the Motherly care of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The focus of the pilgrimage is always to lead people into a deeper Eucharistic relationship or to introduce them to the Eucharistic Lord via daily Holy Mass, Confession, and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Accompanied by these essential Catholic elements of faith is a profound devotion to praying the Holy Rosary and the Stations of the Cross. A visit to the springs— in which water is collected and blessed, so that the faithful may use it in their ordinary spiritual activities, —is also a necessary part of any pilgrimage. Many pilgrims also make it their duty to visit the Chapel in which the ‘Tabernacle of the Most High’ painting initially hung and the larger chapel in which it currently remains. Prayer, praise, and worship are the central focuses at Ngome. The silence of the evenings in which heartfelt prayer goes up to God before the Blessed Sacrament within this sanctuary often captures the sentiments of a truly meaningful pilgrimage to Ngome, where heavy burdens are laid down and new trust and hope are implanted into God’s people. Noticeably, many non-Catholics and non-believers find their way to the Shrine in search of something that is missing in their lives, and so often they return home, free from the burdens they carried with them upon their arrival. These are by far the most significant pillars of devotion at the Shrine.

Spiritual experiences and conversions among the pilgrims

In my eleven-year ministry at the Shrine, I can certainly attest to countless numbers of graces received by the pilgrims who came with faith and trust in their hearts, and even for those who came out of curiosity. The Lord, through the intercession of the ‘Tabernacle of the Most High”, is most gracious to His children who seek Him in their need, just as He was at the wedding at Cana (Jn 2: 1-11). So many have felt the reassurance of God who loves them despite their weakness or faults, their distractions or shortcomings. These moments of grace are often the catalyst for many to find their way into a much deeper relationship with the Lord and, especially, with Our Blessed Mother. Sr Reinolda’s efforts and sustained witness were certainly the building blocks of what is now a robust Marian Shrine, from which many graces flow, and through which many souls have turned back to God.

No doubt, as during the time of Jesus, there are doubters and sceptics, who come to the Shrine no longer believing in a loving merciful God who cares for them or battered down by the ferocity of the world. The experience of the gentleness of a forgiving, deeply sensitive God who caresses them back through the words and the image of His servant, the Tabernacle of the Most High, brings them back from the brink of despair. Peace, hope and trust are often the fruits of a meaningful pilgrimage to Ngome Marian Shrine, and certainly a re-commitment to faith in God. Sr Reinolda expressed in the ninth purported apparition that she received this peace and consolation of knowing that Our Blessed Mother will protect and intervene in our lives so that we may receive the necessary grace and blessings we require from God. For me, what stands out most powerfully is the knowledge of Sr Reinolda May as she presented her simple, ordinary but deeply devotional life to the Lord in the Holy Eucharist and her sincere love for the Blessed Virgin Mary, the constant and loving witness of this beautiful religious sister has over the years stirred the hearts of so many giving them that push that would move them closer to God, to try to go deeper in their journey of faith. Her love for Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, carefully guided by the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a story that so many are trying to emulate. The contribution of Sr Reinolda Franziska May OSB will not go unnoticed. She has done what God expected of her, and many reap now the fruits of those early seeds she planted in faith and trust. She has captured the essential elements of the mystical tradition of the Church in which she has journeyed deeply with the Lord who has revealed Himself amidst His people, the same Lord who nourishes us and heals us. Today Ngome Marian Shrine is one of the most loved and visited holy sites in Southern Africa, of which the Catholic Church has the great privilege and responsibility of being the custodian. May we remain true to that call!

INSIGHTS • WOMEN IN POLITICS

Transcending Gender in Politics

BY Mike Pothier | Programme Manager, SACBC Parliamentary LIAISON OFFICE, CAPE TOWN

A FEW years ago, I wrote a column in Worldwide about women in politics in South Africa. I wondered whether it was the case that women bring something different or ‘special’ to politics:

One sometimes hears it said that having more women in politics would increase the chances of consensus and agreement; they would be less belligerent and egotistic, more willing to see other points of view, and more likely than their male counterparts to put aside personal ambition in favour of serving the nation. Certainly, one can think of quite a number of women in our political life of whom that is true, but there are probably just as many of whom it is not. In any event, we should be careful of applying stereotypes, or of thinking that there is some kind of ‘female ideal’ that we should be trying to foster in political life.

Since then, we have seen many women achieving the highest office in various countries. Theresa May and Liz Truss became prime ministers of the United Kingdom. Nicola Sturgeon was first minister of Scotland for some years. Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand, Sanna Marin in Finland, Samia Suluhu Hassan in Tanzania, and Magdalena Andersson in Sweden all became their countries’ first heads of government. The United States also chose its first female vice president, Kamala Harris, in 2020.

So there does seem to be something of a trend—I have certainly missed out a few in the list above —but it is still not clear that the increasing presence of women at the pinnacle of their political systems has brought any noticeable change. Some of those I’ve mentioned certainly made a major impact on their countries, Ms Ardern perhaps most notably. The two Nordic women left less of a legacy, but at least they pioneered the possibility of female national leadership. Ms Sturgeon led Scotland with great firmness and determination, but shortly after stepping down, she was arrested following allegations of irregularities in her party’s finances—an outcome we tend to associate more with male politicians.

Liz Truss had an ignominiously short tenure of only 50 days, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in the long history of that office in the UK. During that time, she pursued economic and fiscal policies as egotistically as any male politician might have done.

Maybe the whole idea of the empathetic, unifying, self-giving female politician is nothing more than a sexist cliché

On the other hand, Ms Hassan in Tanzania has earned considerable praise for enacting reforms, including the removal of restrictions on the media, and seeking rapprochement with various opposition parties and figures that had been marginalised, and even threatened, by her predecessor.

Looked at this way, it is a mixed picture; we certainly cannot discern a clear pattern internationally suggesting that having women in the most senior posts leads to better political outcomes. The same seems to be true in our own country. Only a handful of senior female ANC leaders were implicated in state capture allegations, but quite a few have shown themselves to be pretty mediocre cabinet ministers and deputy ministers. It is hard to think of a single one who has put her duty to the country ahead of loyalty to her party; in this, they are no better, or worse, than their male counterparts. The same is broadly true, it must be said, of prominent women in the opposition parties. (I note that my assessment a few years ago was more optimistic in this regard.)

Does all this tell us anything useful? Possibly. On the one hand, maybe it is simply the case that politics is an occupation that attracts people—male or female—who tend to be ego-driven, thick-skinned and ambitious; who are competitive and belligerent by nature. If so, then the stereotypical feminine virtues will not be found very commonly in the halls of political power.

On the other hand, maybe the whole idea of the empathetic, unifying, self-giving female politician is nothing more than a sexist cliché. Maybe those who look for that ‘special touch’ that women supposedly bring to political life are looking for something that doesn’t actually exist.

RADAR

A Mystical African Legend

BY Ruby Lilaowala

FROM MY three-week visit to South Africa in 2000 one fascinating story remained always with me, about a woman with great supernatural powers. Standing upon a hill, head back, emerald-eyed sceptre in outstretched hands, she’d command that it rain, and it would! If she wished for the rains to stay away, they would!

Though she dominated a vast region of warrior tribes, she didn’t have a single soldier under her command. The mightiest of chiefs obeyed her every wish. She had white skin and blue eyes. She never seemed to age. She stayed young and beautiful and was said to be at least a hundred years old when she mystically disappeared. All of this defies reason. Can any of it be possible or is it just legend? Millions of people in Africa believe it to be true. The famous English author, H. Rider Haggard has immortalised her in his African classic, She, later made into a Hollywood film.

The saga of the Rain Queen begins with her birth in a Bedouin caravan camp, on the southern fringes of the Sahara Desert. This event, a couple of hundred years ago, was marked by a torrential rainstorm in the dry Sahara. It hardly ever rained there before. More remarkably, the child had white skin and eyes of the deepest blue! She was named Shareen. She was barely in her teens, when the camel train on which her father was a driver, was ambushed by a band of Bakwebo warriors, near Lake Chad, northern Central Africa. The caravan was looted and everyone on it slaughtered, except Shareen. She was carried off to become another of the Chief’s many wives.

Less than a year later, the Chief mysteriously died. Soon, Shareen, now renamed Mujaji, became the senior wife of the new Chief. But very shortly, the new husband also passed on, for reasons not explained, and she became the Chief of the Bakwebo people. She bestowed a new title upon herself: ‘She Who Must Be Obeyed’. She ruled the Bakwebo for almost 80 years, during which her influence spread immensely. The source of her power was known far and wide as ‘The Transformer of the Clouds’.

During this period, Central Africa erupted in turmoil, triggering a southward migration of millions. The Bakwebo people were also among them, but by then, they had lost all their fighting strength. The journey may have lasted ten to thirty years, we will never know. The route taken by the Bakwebo led them down through, what is today, the Central African Republic, DRC Congo and Angola, right down to where they crossed the Limpopo River and eventually arrived in the Wolowedu Mountains of the former Transvaal State, now Limpopo, where the Bakwebo established their new home. Mujaji chose a solitary mountain, Levanga, upon which to build her palace.

Levanga became the seat of power for Mujaji, the Rain Queen, Transformer of the Clouds. Her neighbours felt her influence and power. These were powerful tribes, far greater in number and wealth, and each possessed a well-equipped army. Mujaji hardly had any fighting men among her 5 000 people. She had never needed the protection of fighting men and required none of them now. Her weapon was the control of the clouds.

The adjoining kingdoms—Tsonga to the East; Venda to the North: Sotho, Pedi, Swazi and Tswana to the South and West, soon felt the awful consequences of confrontation with Mujaji… lands laid wasted by drought. To appease her and gain her favours of rain, her neighbours brought an endless stream of gifts—gold, cattle and young girls of royal birth. The reason for demanding princesses of royal birth was probably a kind of insurance. Mujaji was shrewd enough to hedge her bets. Should her rain-making powers, for whatever reason, desert her one day, her warlike neighbours would not attack while their Kings’ and Chiefs’ daughters were with Mujaji! So, the gifts flowed in frequently and the Bakwebo people had a new name — ‘Lovdu — the Palace of Offering’.

As ‘Transformer of the Clouds’, Mujaji had no equal, and the locals still believe to this day, that it was because of Mujaji that Eastern Transvaal is such a beautiful place. Even the Swazi rain-bringers, renowned for their skill, were overshadowed by Mujaji’s incredible powers. Word of her talent reached even the Zulu leaders, far to the South, and hundreds of Zulu cattle were often seen being driven to Lovdu, an offering to the great Transformer of the Clouds.

These were also times of great conflict between the powerful nations of the Zulu, Sotho, Shangaan and Tsonga. Although wars raged through the region, the land of Lovdu was carefully avoided. There was no leader, no matter how mighty, who could risk the displeasure of the Great Transformer!

When her power was at its greatest, it suddenly ended! The white man had arrived in South Africa. Wars for supremacy engulfed the region and now Lovdu was no longer immune. The white soldiers were disdainful of Mujaji’s reputed powers and ultimately, Lovdu was overrun. The royal handmaidens were still there when the soldiers stormed into the palace, but there was no sign of Mujaji! She was never seen or heard of, since then. She just disappeared into thin air— just as mysteriously as she had arrived!