Pope Benedict, in his unscripted homily at the opening session of the Seventh General Congregation of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops, proclaimed (following Psalm 82:5) that:
"[T]he foundations of the earth are shaken, because the inner foundations are shaken, the moral and religious foundations, the faith that leads to the right way of life. And we know that the faith is the foundation, and, without a doubt, the foundations of the earth cannot be shaken if the faith, the true wisdom, stands firm”. That, ultimately, is the goal of the Christian life and the life of the Church: "Thy kingdom come; Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." Through the faith of the simple, the heartfelt response to God's gift of Himself, the Church can remake the world—not in the image of ideology, but in the image of the heavenly Jerusalem. And in building up the Body of Christ, the faith of the simple can even repair the world.
Our physical world has been shaken to the core with earthquakes (Christchurch, Japan); tsunamis (including ‘the inland tsunami’, or flood, that engulfed Queensland); cyclones. They have been described as: ‘Apocalypse’; ‘like the biblical Flood’; ‘like the end of the world’. While we pray for all involved in these tragedies, we can also say with King David (Psalm 46:2-3): “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be shaken, and though the mountains be removed into the midst of the sea. Though the waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof”.
God has the power to draw good out of even the most devastating of evils. And we invariably find that, in such severe crises, some human individuals rise to heroic levels. Here, for example, are two heartwarming examples of self-sacrifice from mere children in connection with the Queensland floods.
“No Greater Love …”
How Jordan Rice died to save his brother
Jordan Rice's final act of bravery
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Cardinal Pell: “It is appropriate to add young Jordan Rice’s name to those of Simpson and his donkey, Caroline Chisholm, St Mary MacKillop, Weary Dunlop”.
“Our story – why it’s worth telling”, The Catholic Weekly, 06/02/2011
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Peta Doherty and Nicky Phillips
January 13, 2011
Rescuer Warren McErlean recounts the fatal moment when Jordan Rice's heroic gesture saved his younger brother but cost Jordan his life.
IT IS almost unimaginable the fear 13-year-old Jordan Rice would have felt as the car he and his family were in was pummelled by a wall of water. But as it began engulfing the vehicle, Jordan, who could not swim himself, insisted his younger brother, Blake, 10, be rescued first. By the time his turn came, it was too late. It was a heroic gesture. One that cost him his life. And, like so many others who have risked their lives to save strangers, it almost cost the life of one of the rescuers, Warren McErlean.
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Mr McErlean thought he got it wrong when he saw a water gauge on a street in Toowoomba rise 20 centimetres in 10 seconds on Monday afternoon. Five minutes later he was clinging to a pole, dodging cars and wheelie bins after he risked his life to try to save the Rice family. While Blake was rescued, Jordan and his mother, Donna, 43, perished when they were swept away in the flood.
''When I first saw the car the water was up to the number plate,'' Mr McErlean, 37, a Toowoomba builder, told the Herald. ''I thought I would push it backwards but by the time I walked 20 metres, it [the water] was up on the bonnet and coming up the windscreen.'' Mr McErlean grabbed a rope, tied one end to a post, the other around his waist and set out to rescue the woman and two boys but the fast-moving water swept him downstream. Another rescuer, known only as Chris, pulled Mr McErlean to safety before tying the rope to himself and approaching the car to grab Jordan.
But Jordan wanted his brother to go first so Chris took Blake, handing him to Mr McErlean part way across before heading back to the car.
''I had the boy in one hand, the rope in the other. I wasn't going to let go but then the torrent came through and was pulling us down,'' Mr McErlean said. ''Then this great big tall fellow just came out of nowhere, bear hugged us and ripped us out of the water. When I got back I turned to look at the guy [Chris]. He looked at me and we knew it was over. The rope snapped and the car just flipped.''
Chris, who had been holding Jordan's hand until it was torn from him, flew metres in the air before locking his legs around a post in the centre of the road, said Mr McErlean.
''The others were just gone, just disappeared,'' he said.
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The boy who gave everything to strangers
- Paul Kent
- From: The Daily Telegraph
- January 21, 2011 12:00AM
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DESHAN Malalage is seven, and we need more like him. Last week he watched the news with his mum and kept asking questions about what was happening, and she tried to explain as best she could the floods.
"What's happening now?" he said.
"People are losing their homes," his mother said.
Deshan, who goes into Year 2 this year at St Ives Primary (New South Wales), is a sensitive soul who wants to help people in need. Even when he doesn't know them.
Watching the houses crumble, beginning to understand that children the same age as him now had nowhere to live, Deshan got to thinking.
He turned seven on New Year's Eve and, for his birthday, he got a Nintendo DS. Nearby in his bedroom was the piggy bank where Deshan has stashed away the 5c and 10c pieces his mum and dad have thrown his way for the past three years, including his money from the tooth fairy.
He wanted to use the money to buy a game for his Nintendo, but the news got him thinking.
"I think they need the money in Queensland more than I do," Deshan finally said to his mum, Thanuja.
Thanuja explained that once the money was gone it was gone forever. Deshan understood.
And with the wonderful purity of a young child's mind, he simply figured the people of Queensland needed it more.
But Thanuja, who knows her boy, said: "When you give, when somebody else needs help, then maybe one day it will be your turn and somebody will help you."
The next day Deshan and Thanuja dropped a great bag of coins on the bank counter, to give it all to the floods.
With no counting machine, other tellers were soon conscripted to tally the money and, as many sniffed back tears, counted out $89.
Deshan and Thanuja left but, unknown to them, the bank manager sent an email to the regional manager in Queensland.
It then went further up the chain, and at every level it had the same effect.
Last Friday the bank manager called Thanuja back.
He had a cheque from Queensland for Deshan for $100.
It was not a payback, but a small thank you to a small boy who enriches us all.
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