Letters

'Lest we forget' (letter)

Marion Craig

Contents - Jun 2001 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Church reform: from Stage One to Stage Two - Michael Gilchrist Archbishop Pell installed in Sydney - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World Basic Ecclesial Communities: Adelaide's 'new model of church' - Michael Gilchrist Annual women priests protest in Adelaide - AD2000 Report Denver document addresses challenges to Catholic marriage teachings - AD2000 Report US missionary risks death in Colombia - Zenit News Service Anglican defence of Catholic inter-Communion ban - Fr Geoffrey Kirk How a small rural parish survived against the odds - Paul Newton Light to the Nations 2001 - Young Australian Catholics celebrate their faith - Mary-Jane Donnellan Letters: Archbishop Pell (letter) - Godwin Brown Letters: Ballarat Diocese (letter) - Fr Gerry Baldock Letters: Encouragement (letter) - John F. Doran Letters: Consecrated life (letter) - Therese O'Rourke Letters: Indian appeal (letter) - Kevin L. Fernandes Letters: Annunciation (letter) - Andrew Scholl Letters: Altar (letter) - Stuart J. Blackwood Letters: Science and Christianity (letter) - Mrs Carol V. Phillips Letters: Sexual abstinence (letter) - Errol P. Duke Letters: 'Lest we forget' (letter) - Marion Craig Books: The Turin Shroud: Past, Present and Future, International Scientific Symposium - Anthony Cappello (reviewer) Books: 'As One Struggling Christian to Another: Augustine's Christian Ideal for Today' - Bill Muehlenberg (reviewer) Books: 'Blessed Columba Marmion: a Short Biography' by Mark Tierney OSB - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: 'The Wedding Present' by Viscountess Margaret Long - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: Heaven in Stone and Glass: Experiencing the Spirituality of the Great Cathedrals - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: 'The Doctors of the Church' by Bernard McGinn - Angela Joseph (reviewer) Books: 'Praying The Psalms: A Commentary' by Fr Stanley L. Jaki - Anthony Cappello (reviewer) Books: 'Praying with Thomas Aquinas' by Houle, Monshau and Norris - Catherine Sheehan (reviewer) Reflection: The priest: mediator between God and man - Archbishop George Pell

In the wake of Anzac Day 2001, may I crave space to rectify a misapplied famous line "Lest we forget." In fact, Rudyard Kipling addressed his hymn-poem to God; it was not applied to those fallen in war. It was written to correct vain boasting after victory. Fr Eustace Boylan SJ, a former editor of the Australian Sacred Heart Messenger thought highly of it. To quote one stanza from many:

"The tumult and the shouting dies,
The Captains and the the Kings depart.
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice
A humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet
Lest we forget. Lest we forget."

Fewer still know Kipling's lovely lines to Our Lady in "A Hymn Before Battle":

O Mary, pierced with sorrow,
Remember, reach and save
The soul that goes tomorrow
Before the God Who gave.
As each was born of woman,
For each in utter need,
True comrade and brave foeman -
Madonna, intercede!