Off to a New Year's Day Service

The oppressive heat of the night, dry and incendiary, was replaced in the morning by a light, welcome drizzle, softening and moisturising the earth, sending a cool breeze to the warm skin, giving comfort to the bodies aching and screaming for some respite from the heat of the last few days. Friday was bad, with the city reaching a record of 46 degrees C, the hottest since 1939.

The midnight countdown was one of those funny moments when we all turned all all the lights in the house, ignited some sparklers and pulled firecrackers. Everybody greeted everybody Happy New Year and asked: "What's your New Year's resolution?" This is some kind of chimera, a mythical monster one attempts to grasp but many a time fail to even start or break as soon as it is started. Some get a shock thay they haven't made a New Year's resolution yet. "Okay, my resolution is to think about my resolution" came as a reaction. Somebody resolved something in these words: "I swear not to swear anymore!" and he breaks it in the next five minutes.

Resolutions should be borne out of conviction, not by fancy, for fancy is whimsical and has no character of permanence. Convictions at least have some roots. You still have to dig around the roots, fertilise the ground, water it, but the plant would have a better chance of growing than the dandelion seed blown by the wind, with no one really knowing where it would land.

I caught the 9:43am bus to Glenelg, got off at Jetty Road, and boarded the tram to the Adelaide at 10:00am. The faces of people were dour, some sour, like the New Year had been a non-event, or it was an event and was good while the celebrations lasted, a few hours into the night of revelry, wine-bibbing, and oohs and aahs at the fireworks, and making noise. But greeting the New Year to me is to look it straight in the eye and to befriend it and to speak to it in no uncertain terms: I will be with you for 365 days; I will have to put up with you all the things and events ans mishaps and good fortune that will be in my way this year.

This year for me is a year of wondering about peace in the world, a concern that everybody should have in their heads and hearts. We hope for peace in the world and cannot even give a little piece of peace to others. Mother Teresa once said: "Peace begins with a smile." We need countless, huge smiles to start the peace process. The world's religions have a specific responsibility to make it a jihad of smile, a crusade of smile, a zen of smile, and to spread peace in the simplest way that a human face can give to other human faces. Forget about the environment and global warming for a minute, we have to take care of the environment of interhuman, international relationships. Forget about saving the whales and the endangered species, for humankind is the most endangered of all species. The smile is universal. No matter what race, religion, colour of skin, language, political persuasion, the smile always stands for goodwill and peace, transmitting a message of happiness.

At 10:15am the tram stopped at Morphettville due to some mechanical failure: the tram would not start. Radio communication could be heard from the driver's seat. The tram doors opened. The driver and the conductor stepped out of the tram as I continued to scribble away. Sounds of technical advice could be heard from the other end of the radio transmission. The trams doors were then shut and the tram backed up a few inches. The driver came back holding some tool and declaring: "Champion, mate, absolute champion!" And the tram started at 10:20am and sped in the directions of the city.

There were not many passengers in this tram. I sat on the third row of the first car. Three got in at Plympton Park, next stop 2 people: one elderly woman sat on the the area reserved for the "aged or physically impaired persons" which was closest the door. She was wearing flowery Chinese-style shirt in a dark brown background. The other one was a Chinese man in a checkered shirt and silver sports pants. Next stop, a woman with short curled hair dyed blonde sat in front of me. Next stop, a moustachioed man boarded the tram in his khaki military-style shirt with rolled-up sleeves and a baseball cap of matching colour. The conductor came around asking who wanted tickets. He was wearing a blue shirt, dark-blue pants and the ticket box dangling on his hips. Meanwhile a fly continued to bother me, targetting my eyes of all places. Soon we neared the city. Outside on the sidewalks near the South Terrace, a man in his fifties in white sports singlet and black shorts was running, probably as he had always done everyday, New Year's Day being no exception. The cheeky fly was riding the tip of my pen for about 5 seconds even as I scribbled. At 10:35am I wasn't far from my destination.

Behind the altar of St. Francis Xavier Cathedral near Victoria Square, a tall Christmas tree peppered with tiny lights stood proudly blocking partly the stained glass panels. On the left side of the altar was the statue of St. Therese de Lisieux. On the right was that of St. Francis Xavier in his white dalmatic and red stole over his black frock. In his hand he was holding and looking at a crucifix. The stained glass panels depicted the mysteries of the Rosary: the left panel for the Joyful Mysteries, the middle for the Sorrowful Mysteries, and the right panel for the Glorious Mysteries. The second and third rows of stone pillars had green Christmas wreaths snaking around them. The rest of the pillars were graced by green and red ribbons flowing to the floor. The ribbons were topped by short wreaths with little golden bells.

The commentator said something about "peace in our troubled world". The green sheet guide for the day's service declared this day to be the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Just under the heading was a grim boxed reminder: "Please ensure that mobile phones are switched off. Thank you." The entrance hymn was from a music of the 15th century. The last verse had the words:

O and A and A and O

cum cantibus in choro

let the merry organ go

Benedicamus Domino

Benedicamus Domino.

The main celebrant was a bishop who said the day was the "greatest feast each year". In his introduction to the homily, he said that the length of the homily was in inverse proportion to the temperature, the hotter the temperature, the shorter the homily. He mentioned about Mary being the greatest disciple of Jesus, as "she followed Jesus more closely than anybody else in the Bible." The Gospel reading for the day was from Luke 2:16-21. Verse 19 declares: And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. The bishop said: "We live in an age that is dominated by image and sound." That made it hard to reflect spiritual truths in our hearts. He said that to be a disciple in the Church, we must contemplate the truth, that Jesus was born not just to bring grace but also to bring truth. He mentioned that for over 35 years now in Australia, this day has been celebrated as World Day of Prayer for Peace. The letter of Pope Benedict XVI said that: "Truth is peace." The Bishop then continued to say that you and I must be rededicated in being truthful to God and to one another, doing justice between peoples and be engaged in the Lord's work. The Bishop said that the fundamental truth Jesus revealed was that "God is our Father" and that as a consequence of that truth, we are all his children, we are touched by God's light, every person is a child of God, that whatever differences we may have with other people, they are our brothers and sisters, even when their differences are expressed in anger.

1 January 2006