I would like to respond to Fr Patrick McCafferty ‘Date of Lord’s birth doesn’t particularly matter’ (October 23) who makes the case that December 25 “is as good a day as any to do so” and that in his view “every day of the year is a birthday of Jesus Christ”. I can’t quite follow the logic in these two conclusions, but I would rather refer to the Bible which states that the Saviour appeared at the ‘appointed time’.
This was not just ‘any old day’ but a long-awaited event that was a culmination of many centuries of Jewish history that embodied animal sacrifice and legal laws. Jesus would replace that legal system of requirement and become the ultimate sacrifice for sin Himself.
John the Baptist, His cousin, born six months before Jesus/Yeshua, was also born at the ‘appointed time’. Both births were special and it is fitting that they fall, according to the Hebrew or Biblical calendar that Yeshua kept, on ‘appointed times’ or in Hebrew ‘moedim’ which is the word for a celebrated feast or festival, an annual rest day or Sabbath of God. Calculating from John’s father’s priestly order of service in I Chronicles 24:10 we can ascertain that John was born at Passover. This is a special one-day holiday followed by seven days of Unleavened Bread, eight days in total. John was born on the first day of Passover, an annual Sabbath or holy day and circumcised as a Jewish boy on the eighth day of the same holiday, also a holy Sabbath Day. Six months later, the Feast of Tabernacles falls on 15 Tishrei, and Yeshua, or Jesus, would have been born on the first celebration day of ‘Sukkot’ (in Hebrew) and circumcised like His cousin on the eighth and final day of the Feast, also an annual holy Sabbath. Both festivals last eight days. None of this happened by accident, but in the perfect plan of the Almighty.
Fr McCafferty may wish to ignore such ‘appointed times’ in favour of a vague date chosen for no clear apparent reason, but I would prefer a date I can link with Scripture rather than a merging of pagan winter solstice celebrations venerating evergreen trees, holly, ivy and the like.
He also says “there is no need to refer to Him as Yeshua” (as the name has evolved into others such as ‘Jesus’) but His mother Miriam as a Jewess would have called Him Yeshua as that was the Name that was given to Him by the Angel Gabriel. Why change it? It does after all mean ‘salvation.’
COLIN NEVIN
Bangor, Co Down
Sectarian slogans serve no purpose in 2017
It is deeply upsetting that in 2017 we, as a shared society, are still living with a deeply manifested sectarian hatred clearly illustrated by a sectarian sign daubed ‘Taigs Out’ in Clough.
I have to actually question the Christianity, humility, mindset and rationale of these disturbed perpetrators who daubed this message on a billboard sign on the Dundrum Road in Clough. What purpose does it actually serve to write this sectarian slogan ‘Taigs Out’?
Sadly all these people are doing is denigrating their own village of Clough which has grown in population.
I wish to fully condemn the sectarian sign on the Dundrum Road as it does not represent the area or the vast majority of people who reside in Clough village.
I trust that all right thinking people, elected and public representatives will also condemn this sectarian sign and that the PSNI in conjunction with the relevant bodies will remove this piece of hate crime from its location.
PATRICK CLARKE
Castlewellan, Co Down
Breach of Oireachtas code of standards
Each November, Irish society is forced to endure sterile and divisive controversy concerning Armistice Day, poppy wearing, and the commemoration of the thousands of Irish who died serving with British forces during the Great War.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, clearly in breach of the Oireachtas Code of Parliamentary Standards which bans the wearing of emblems of a political nature within parliamentary precincts, has taken to wearing a ‘shamrock poppy’ in the Dáil.
Mr Varadkar cannot be unaware of the symbolism of the poppy here in Ireland which has a political subtext, functioning not just as a symbol of Remembrance but as a veiled propagandist attack on separatist Irish nationhood. I wonder will Mr Varadkar, who is wearing the poppy to honour those Irish who gave their lives fighting for the freedoms of small nations in the Great War, wear an Easter lily to honour those Irish who gave their lives fighting for the freedom of this small nation at the same time?
TOM COOPER
Irish National Congress, Dublin 2
Time to bring back Patten
It is hard to envisage George Hamilton doing anything more likely to bring discredit on the PSNI than his decision to appeal the ruling by Justice Treacy that the PSNI must complete the suppressed report into the 120 murders by the Glanane gang.
Ever since the decision to over-turn the 50:50 Patten requirement, the PSNI have been caught in a downward spiral. It is difficult to see how the PSNI as currently governed have any hope of salvaging their reputation as a force that can represent the whole of society.
Nothing short of the wholesale change with new blood from Britain and the Republic is likely to work.
It may be time to bring Patten back, as the reforms have been so watered down that the PSNI may need to revert to its previous name.
Cllr CADOGAN ENRIGHT
Independent Downpatrick,
Co Down
Missing in action
Where is our nice ‘new’ policing service now? And where are those who conned the electorate into supporting this service to get themselves elected into ‘power’ on the promise of holding this ‘new’ policing service to account? In one of his early statements Chief Constable George Hamilton made it clear one of his priorities would be defending the RUC. He has done so at every opportunity. Now that the dirt has yet again hit the fan the chief concern is to find those who allowed the dirt to leak and keep the lid on the pot. Surely this tells us all we need to know about our ‘new’ PSNI policing service. They are unable and unwilling to divorce themselves from their discredited RUC forefathers.
So, what has changed?
LAURENCE O'NEILL
Martinstown, Co Antrim
