St Valentine's Day

The Crucifix in the Cathedral




















St Valentine






















First Station of the Cross Jesus is condemned

















Fr Ramiel

Hello every one and a happy St Valentine’s day to you all. I wonder if you know that there are nine saints who are called Valentine. The Valentine we celebrate on the 14th February was a priest in Rome, who, with St. Marius and his family, assisted the martyrs in the persecution under Claudius II. He was apprehended, and sent by the emperor to the prefect of Rome, who, on finding all his promises to make him renounce his faith in effectual, commended him to be beaten with clubs, and afterwards, to be beheaded, which was executed on February 14, about the year 270. Valentine really existed because archaeologists have unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to Saint Valentine and in that church was a woodcut portrait of him. Alongside text states that Valentinus was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius II. He was caught marrying Christian couples and aiding any Christians who were being persecuted Valentinus was arrested and imprisoned and Claudius took a liking to him until Valentine tried to convert him. Eventually being beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate.

As we know saints are not supposed to rest in peace; they're expected to keep busy: to perform miracles, to intercede. Being in jail or dead is no excuse for non-performance of the supernatural. One legend says, while awaiting his execution, Valentine restored the sight of his jailer's blind daughter. Another legend says, on the eve of his death, he penned a farewell note to the jailer's daughter, signing it, "From your Valentine." From those beginnings we now have Valentine Day. St. Valentine is not only the Patron Saint of lovers but also, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, plague, travellers, young people. He is represented in pictures with birds and roses. A busy saint!

Talking about St Valentines day on Friday I was visiting a patient when my phone went off. I answered it and the receptionist said that there was a man in the lobby wanting to talk to the catholic chaplain about a problem he had with a member of his family. As a chaplain you are called on to advise on many things. And at times you need to be a big ear to listen to people’s problems. So I went to the lobby and sitting there was this man and woman. I thought I recognise the faces, so my mind was racing trying to put names to the faces. Were they from Burnside or Ashburton parishes nothing registered. This is going to be tricky I thought how am I going to blag this. Hello Fr Kevin nice to see you here the man said and my brain was racing and then I realised it was Don Breakspear and his wife, Sheila and Val (Valentine)’s son and daughter in law. They were out in New Zealand having a holiday and as they were in Christchurch they could not pass by without seeing me. I said how did you know I was at the hospital the reply came because we keep up with your blog. It transpires that Val and Sheila keep up with the blog through them so that they can keep an eye on what I am doing. So hello Val and Sheila I hope you are doing well and that you both have a great St Valentine’s feast day and we congratulate you both on being so much in love with each other after over seventy years of marriage. God bless you both.

Been working quite hard this week with one thing and another and I have had help in the hospital. Sr Patricia who has been working voluntary for over 23 years has come back for a few weeks, before she retires. She work closely with Fr Kevin O’Grady over those years who also was a great support for her. So when Fr Kevin died she lost a great friend. So working in the hospital must have been hard for her, yet she has carried on but I think she will retire soon because next birthday she is seventy-five. And as you know there comes a time when you have to say to your self enoughs enough.

Well that is enough for this week will include another picture of the stations and one of the Crucifix. I have not taken many photographs this week. I have included one of Fr Ramiel who is a priest from the Philippines who will be working here for a couple of years as the Catholic Chaplain to Christchurch university.

Hanmer Springs and Stations

Looks like Jesus and Simon are out for a run
















Oh what big hands you've got Veronica















Jesus loses weight

















Arnett and myself at Hanmer Springs.

No I have loss no weight in fact........

(By the way if you double click on the pictures they treble in size)

Well a happy St Blaise day to you all and I hope all your throats are blessed by the patron saint of throats. The do not seem to follow it over here. I presume it is because it is the middle of summer and not many people get sore throats at this time.

Well it has been a very busy week in the hospital. It is suprising how quickly the turn over is in the people coming and going. In the good old days a patient could exspect to be in hospital at least two weeks and after an operation another three weeks to get over the trauma of the event. Now it is usually less than a week. Over the week I try and see all the Catholics that are known to me(Here unlike England they give you a list of all the Catholics who want to be seen) and give them the sacrament of the sick and Holy communion. Some of the patients not truly understanding the nature of the sacrament say, ‘I’m not ready to die yet father.’ Then I explain the sacrament of the sick and then they willingly receive the sacrament.

I always fnd it a bit difficult to ask a person if they are a practicing Catholic so I have devised a little cunning plan that gives me some idea how the land lies. I ask them what parish they are in and those who are practicing their faith usually know straight away and know the current parish priest. I do hear some stories about why they are not practicing and I must say once I hear some of the stories I am not surprised why they have stopped. In the end however we must not be put off loving God and our neighbour and practicing our faith by people or because the Mass is not in latin anymore. We practice our faith because we believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the founder of our Church. Once that fact is deep seated in our hearts it wont matter too much what people say and do, they will never put us off following our faith in Jesus. It never put Jesus off by having a motley bunch of characters around him, in fact he used them to spread his good news. (theme of my homily this week), therefore it shouldn’t surprise us to see in our church a great number of different characters. I digress yet again. The hospital gives the Lord a great chance for him to touch people with his welcoming and healing love, and let people know that he is also walking with them in their pain and suffering and that he would never abandon them.

On my days off this week I went to Hanmer Springs which is about 70 miles from Christchurch. It is a lovely place very quiet and quaint. It is in a valley north of Christchurch and surrounded by hills. It has hot springs there and people come to take the waters. I went in with uncle, even though the sulpha waters smelt like bad eggs. They say that the waters are good for your joints and help you to recover from some illnesses. I was talking to a lady and she told me that through the waters, which she bathes in every day, she has managed to get over the effects of a stroke she had over a year ago. Now she can walk and talk and do nearly all the things she could do before the stroke. However for my troubles in Hanmer I got sun burnt on my shoulders and chest and turned a beetroot colour. Got a sore shoulder, tired feet and a lot of nasty insect bites on my legs. So the moral of the trip for me is ‘If your well don’t go to bathing in the spa springs.’ Saying that I have committed myself to taking a Philippino priest there this Wednesday. I wont take the waters.

It was the Phillippino priest who actually alerted me to the stations of the cross in the Cathedral which were a great source of controversy when they were put up, to such an extent that there were demonstrations outside of the cathedral. The augument was that not only were they crude but one of them was phonographic. I will let you judge them yourselves. Personally I did feel that they were a bit like a ten year would do at school if they were drawing them. They would be all right in a modern church but in a classical building as the cathedral is they do not seem right. Mind you saying that until they were pointed out to me I never even noticed them, which also tells you something. Nearly every dipiction of Jesus is different which I also find off putting. Another anomally is the crucifix. I must say it is the most ugliest and not very well carved crucifix that I have ever seen and rather than meditating on it ones eyes tries to avoid it.