CATHOLIC TASTES.

Suffer the little children

At last year's Easter egg hunt at a church in Daytona Beach, Florida, several children were injured as they approached a huge pile of plastic eggs containing candy and Bible verses.

To make sure their own kids got their "fair share," some parents rushed in and trampled many of the other children. Said one observer: "This isn't an Easter egg hunt; it's an Easter egg massacre." (Chicago Reader, May 15, 1998)

Laughing matter 

German theologian Jurgen Moltmann would like to revive the medieval custom of the Easter laughter in churches. Moltmann says in the Middle Ages congregations told jokes and had other fun during the Easter liturgy.

"The Easter laughter was a reaction to the wholly unexpected, complete `reversal of all things.' God had brought this reversal about by raising Christ, who had been crucified by the powers of this world.

"The laughter about this `reversal,' which has already taken hold in the community of the risen Christ, will one day sound through the whole universe when the universe will be resurrected ... The expectation was for cosmic death, but what comes is eternal life. If that is no reason to laugh!" (Publik-Forum, January 1998)

Passion drama

"A group of 13- and 14-year-old girls were about to join me in a Holy Week reenactment of the Last Supper at Misericordia House for Girls in Lima, Peru," recalls Father Peter Byrne, M.M. (Maryknoll, February 1998).

"We were all dressed for our parts when the sister in charge came by to give the disciples a last look. Some of the girls had on a little lipstick, and Sister, rubbing their mouths with tissue paper, reminded them that Jesus' disciples did not wear lipstick.

"But after Sister left, one of the girls came over to me and said, `Father, please remind Sister those early disciples of Jesus weren't teenage girls!"

Saint Paul in trouble

An unnamed reader sent "A Notification Concerning the Writings of Saint Paul of Tarsus" to the Tablet (Jan. 2, 1999). Apparently, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has found some "grave errors" in the writings of this ancient theologian.

The Notification expresses concerns about the apostle's assertion in his Letter to the Galatians that "there can be neither male nor female--for you are all one in Christ Jesus." This, the document says, "is based on a grossly mistaken anthropology."

In addition to such serious doctrinal issues, the congregation also points out that Paul has been seriously at odds with Pope Saint Peter, as reported in the Acts of the Apostles. It notes that "Saint Paul himself admits to willful disagreement with the Holy Father" (see Gal. 2:11).

The Notification calls on bishops to gather up all copies of Saint Paul's works and warns motel owners to "expunge his writings from all Gideon Bibles in their suites."

Why, he looks like Randy Travis

The mystery of what Jesus really looked like has finally been solved. Fort Worth, Texas painter Glenda Green is letting the world know that more than seven years ago--during his Second Coming to her home--the Lord himself posed for her for almost four months.

"On November 23, 1991 ... a presence entered the room unlike any I've ever experienced.... Although He was transparent, there was a radiant glow, and He displaced the air so conspicuously that I could see currents of pressure waves rippling about eight feet in front of me. Was it the Holy Spirit ... or perhaps a special angel? ... It was the Master Himself in pure spiritual form.

"The Presence ... shot a beam of energy from Himself to a point between my eyes. I presume He implanted something into my optic nerve, for a radiant picture projected before my eyes. It was the exact visual prototype of the painting to be done. Every detail was there, and it was available for me to refer to from that moment until the painting's completion."

Green says her painting, "The Lamb and the Lion," was "finished on March 12, 1992, but the story of its miracles was just beginning." For a close encounter with the handsome country-singer look-alike, check out www.worldlightcenter.com/home/2artggll.htm.

A walk on the wild (water) side

THE 4 MILLION VISITORS who are expected to visit the Holy Land for the millennium celebrations will be able to follow in Jesus' footsteps in a unique new way.

According to a report in the London Telegraph, beginning this fall, as many as 300 pilgrims at a time will walk on the water just as and where Jesus did. An Israeli lawyer has received permission to build a 240-foot platform 2 inches below the surface of the Sea of Galilee near Capernaum.

"I was ashamed to share [my idea] with other people at first, for fear they would think that I was a lunatic," says Ron Major, the lawyer. But he has decided he wants to "help people feel what [Jesus] felt when he walked on the water." (Chicago Sun-Times, Feb, 3, 1999)

Quote-it Notes

Only those who themselves have been resurrected can actually celebrate Easter.

--Dorothee Solle