98. Corpus Christi: You Won't See This in China

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the children who have made their First

Communion walk in front of the Priest 

holding the Blessed Sacrament

some of the First Communion children
strewing flowers from their baskets
in honour of the Blessed Sacrament

In a country where you can’t even gather in a square alongside your friends without getting massacred to death, you can imagine if they let you strew flowers along the sidewalks of your town in honour of the Body of Christ which is what Corpus Christi mean.

This happened 19 years ago, “La Primavera Cinese” as they say here in Italy, when referring to the massacre of 300, 500, or even thousands of students, no one really knows how many, on 4th June 1989. This was the moment that our television screens became splattered with the blood of Chinese young people trampled by the war tanks and whose only fault was to gather in Tienanmen Square to ask for a more decent way of life... to ask for a life worth living and not be suppressed to a mere regimental formality.

The Village Band leads the procession

Since then what has changed? Only a month back we saw the same scene enacted in Tibet. There are monks who will be buried alive in Chinese prisons, who will remain with a bar stuck through their arms behind their backs making it difficult to sit, to stand, to move, to eat, to sleep, to weep, to think and forgotten entirely by the rest of the world- or so the Chinese hope.

the procession continues even into the backstreets

But just because China has allowed the monks to use the monasteries once more and has been struck by the tragedy of an earthquake, which should make them more sensitive to the sufferings of others- but it seems their hearts remain as hardened as ever- it does not mean we, the rest of the world should say, everything’s O.K., everything’s back to normal. Like hell it is

We should remember that whereas we can carry the Blessed Sacrament around the streets of our villages which we have done for centuries on the Feast of Corpus Christi, in China it is best you hide the fact you are a Catholic, by no means does it go in your favour. We feel a certain care for each other when we get together to show that we believe in all things bright and beautiful, as the song goes, our heart no longer frets and for a moment rests from the blows and buffets that life casts upon us. You would probably be hit by a stroke if you so much mention the name of Christ in a street in China, that’s how cosy it is for you there.

We should spare a thought for these monks, in Tibet who when interviewed say how grateful they are to the Chinese to allow them to use their own temple again... For crying out loud! This is THEIR land, this THEIR temple, this is THEIR religion and the Chinese should leave them well alone... for want of using an F... word in all its flourish. I just hope that those athletes and politicians haven’t forgotten all this cruelty just for the sake of having a nice party at the opening of the Olympics. A party? At the expense of prisoners suppressed because they want to live as God commands and not as the Chinese Regime dictates? A party? How can these athletes and politicians cheer and make merry when others are in chains, grovelling in agony by the same regime that is hosting such merriment?

the procession walks up the steps towards the church

 the choir and the altar is placed outside the church door

There are 310 of those youths who went into that square 19 years ago, who are still forgotten in their cells... can anyone go to the Olympics and start cheering knowing their cries of jubilation are simply suffocating the laments of those once young people who did nothing but walk unto a square- the square of THEIR homeland? Has anyone got the guts to go, watch the Olympics and cheer... I can't, can you?

the people wait at the foot of the steps for the Blessing