Good afternoon. The first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Reverend Thomas White of St Mary’s, Calton, in Glasgow.
Presiding Officer and members of the Scottish Parliament, winter is coming!
I must confess that that opening remark is there for the titillation of the millions of fans of what is arguably the most popular fantasy drama of our present age. Perhaps more accurately, what I want to say is, “Autumn is here!”
For many of us, our summer holiday will be a distant memory. For me, like many of my fellow Scots, it was the Mediterranean that was a source of healing balm and relaxation. I confess that, on several occasions this year, I looked out over the blue waters, contemplating how, for so many others, that sea was not a source of leisure but was their final frontier. It was a barrier to be crossed to deliver them from persecution and terror.
Many of the world’s great religions experience the changing of seasons. The Christian calendar, so to speak, is no different. The words Advent, Lent, Eastertide and Christmastide are familiar to those even outwith the Christian tradition. Those seasons are also peppered with feast days and saints days, such as St Andrew’s day and All Saints’ day.
Tomorrow is the feast of the holy rosary. For many outside the Catholic faith, the rosary may simply be understood as the beads that Catholics use to pray. For Catholics, the rosary is a powerful prayer tradition that focuses on specific events in the Lord’s life and ministry. It is designed to help us in our vocation of following the Lord.
The date of this feast day was chosen specifically because it is the anniversary of the battle of Lepanto in 1571, when a coalition of European maritime states effectively prevented the Ottoman empire from gaining access to the Atlantic and thus the Americas, thwarting the invasion of Italy by a sultan who had taken possession of Constantinople—the new Rome—and who had already taken to himself the title emperor of the Romans. The threat to Christian Europe was so great that Pope Pius V called for the recitation of the rosary throughout Europe.
Today, the stakes are just as high for those who would profess to be Christian. People are being drawn to Europe’s borders and the dangers to what remains of the Christian fabric of this continent are very real. However, it is a threat born not out of invasion but out of indifference. If Europe demonstrates indifference to the plight of refugees, the Christian heart will be torn from our nations with greater efficiency than any Ottoman force could have achieved.
I serve as chairman of St Margaret’s Children and Family Care Society. In 2011, one single letter concerning a hypothetical complaint endangered the good work of this charity, as the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator passionately but erroneously began to view our work as having nothing to do with faith. With the support of this Parliament and the prevailing of common sense, the Scottish charity appeals panel recognised and understood the nature of religiously inspired good works, as protected by the European convention on human rights.
The practice of one’s religion cannot simply be reduced to prayers or chants. In contemplating what we do at St Margaret’s and the plight of refugees, there is great resonance with the challenge that is placed on us by Christ, as recorded in St Matthew’s gospel:
“‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’”
Or, as we read in St James,
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows”.
The scope of this Parliament’s powers might be limited when faced with international issues, but that does not stop it being a voice that resonates true to our heritage. I praise the MSPs who have done so. Words are important and they have power. Often, people of religious conviction are unable to act and effect change, and words need to suffice. Those words have power and they are often identified by another name—prayer. In respect to Europe, may this Parliament and nation be like the leaven in the bread. May God bless our work.