7/27/99 Editor N.H.: After the Roman emperor, Caligula (12 A.D. - 41 A.D.), had been assassinated the Senate with the belated courage of the cowards toward the defeated and the dead pronounced the "damnatio memoriae". This meant that Caligula's name was erased from all documents and his pictures and statues removed from all temples and public places. Caligula was most likely criminally insane. But what crimes has Jesus committed that an attempt is being made to obliterate the title associated with his person, namely Christ, from our culture and memory. The recent Christmas card catalogue I received did not contain one card wishing a Merry Christmas. Mr. E.Z. writing about S.G’s journey to the Holy Land (M.N.H,July 1, l999) did not use the customary time designation A.D.( Anno Domini - in the Year of our Lord) but C.E. Since most of us would not know what to make of C.E., Mr. Z. found it necessary to spell it out in parenthesis - Common Era.
Even an atheist,or a person of another faith who can not worship Jesus Christ as the Son of God should be able to revere him as the Son of Man. How many men can you name who in their words and deeds showed us such a profound humanity as Jesus did. He lived in a male dominated society. But as a woman I can still feel his empathy toward us women coming down to us through all these centuries. When Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple he said these words: "Alas for the women who are pregnant at that time, and alas for those with babies at their breasts!" What other great man ever squandered words on woman's fate or could feel a woman's agony when she had to flee with her child? Is the memory of such a man not worth keeping?