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The Catholic Church

  • God Is!
    "In a way, all history cries aloud that God is." Pope Leo XIII
  • An important historical fact
    "The Catholic Church herself is an historic fact. Like a great mountain-range she bestrides the history of the past two thousand years. Whatever may be the attitude adopted toward her, it is impossible to escape her." Pope Pius XII
  • Not easily understood
    "Catholicism is a deep matter, you cannot take it up in a teacup." Venerable John Henry Newman
  • Not Perfect
    "Ought history to hide the faults of men and Orders? It was not after this fashion that the Saints laid open the scandals of their times... God indeed has conferred upon His Church the prerogative of infallibility, but to none of her members has He granted immunity from sin. Peter was a sinner and a renegade, and God has been at pains to have that fact recorded in the Gospels." Jean-Baptise Henri Lacordaire, O.P.
  • The Church
    "There is not and never was on this earth, a work of human policy so richly deserving of examination as the Roman Catholic Church... She saw the commencement of all the governments and of the ecclesiastical establishments that now exist in the world, and we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the end of them all. She was great and respected before the Saxon had set foot on Britain, before the Frank had crossed the Rhine, when Grecian eloquence still flourished in Antioch, when idols were still worshipped in the temple of Mecca. And she may still exist in undiminished vigour when some traveler from New Zealand, in the midst of a vast solitude, takes his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's." Thomas Babington Macaulay

Can you beat this?


  • Jesus promises you two things. Your life has meaning and you will live forever. If you get a better deal than that, take it!!!

Youth learn by example


  • Nothing is so contagious as an example, and our every really good or bad action inspires a similar one.

The Second Coming

  • I've no idea when Jesus is coming back. I'm on the Welcoming Committee, not the Planning Committee!

The Problems of Sin and Imperfection


  • Indeed each time we attempt to force a solution or our difficulties in a quick, easy way we refuse to enter the school of life. This is especially true of the problems of sin and imperfection. Our personal inclinations to certain types of sin and imperfection will be with us as long as we live. They are rooted in our unique nature and in the dark recesses of our past. To be sure, we must try to overcome them in the current of our existence, but we must also humbly accept the fact that possibly we shall never be wholly rid of them in spite of our efforts. It may be that we must live with a certain imperfection to the end of our life; that we must patiently try to cope with it in countless ways while never succeeding in eliminating it. A certain sin may persecute us until our last breath, humiliate us in the eyes of others, escape our understanding, and fill our eyes with tears. This fact we must accept. The Lord will never ask how successful we were in overcoming a particular vice, sin, or imperfection. He will ask us, “Did you humbly and patiently accept this mystery of iniquity in your life? How did you deal with it? Did you learn from it to be patient and humble? Did it teach you to trust not your own ability but My love? Did it enable you to understand better the mystery of iniquity in the lives of others? Did it give you the most typical characteristic of a truly religious person—that he never judges or condemns the sin and imperfection of others?” The religious man knows from his own life that the demon of evil can be stronger than man even in spite of his best attempts; he knows that it is the patience, humility, and charity learned from this experience that count. Success and failure are accidental. The joy of the Christian is never based on his personal religious success but on the knowledge that his Redeemer lives. The Christian is the man who is constantly aware of his need of salvation. Acceptance of the mystery of iniquity in our project of existence is a school of mildness, mercy, forgiveness, and loving understanding of our neighbor.

Suffering


  • There is at this moment, in the world, at the back of some foresaken church, or even in an ordinary house, or at the turning of some deserted path, a poor man who joins his hands and from the depth of his misery, without very well knowing what he is saying, or without saying anything, thanks the good Lord for having made him free, for having made him capable of loving. There is somewhere else, I do not know where, a mother who hides here face for the last time in the hollow of a little breast which will beat no more, a mother next to her dead child who offers to God a groan of an exhausted resignation, as if the Voice which has thrown the suns into space as a hand throws grain, the Voice which makes the worlds tremble, had just murmured gently into her ear, “Pardon me, one day you will know, you will understand, you will give me thanks. But now, what I am looking for is your pardon. Pardon.” These—this harassed woman, this poor man—are at the heart of the mystery, at the heart of the universal creation and in the very secret of God. What can I say of it? Language is at the service of intelligence. And what these people have understood, they have understood by a faculty superior to the intelligence although not in the least in contradiction with it—or rather, by a profound and irresistible movement of the soul which engaged all the faculties at once, which engaged to the depth of their entire nature…. Yes at the moment that this man, this woman, accepted their destiny, accepted themselves humbly—the mystery of creation was being accomplished in them. While they were thus, without knowing it, running the entire risk of their human conduct, they were realizing themselves fully in the charity of Christ., becoming themselves, according to the words of St. Paul, other Christs. In short, they were saints.

WORK TIRELESSLY FOR PEACE

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Spirituality


  • Spirituality is anything that reminds us we are already in the presence of a Loving God. Krister Stendahl

I will not fear, for you are ever with me


  • My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton

History of Maryknoll

  • Bishop James A Walsh
    James Anthony Walsh, son of James Walsh and Hanna Shea, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on February 24, 1867. After completing his elementary education in the public schools, he attended Boston College High School where, in extracurricular activities, his skills in debating and journalism were first recognized and developed. He began his college program at Boston College, interrupted it to study bookkeeping, transferred to Harvard College as a "special student", and completed his studies at St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts. He was ordained on May 20, 1892, at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston. Early Accomplishments After ordination, Walsh was appointed curate at St. Patrick's Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts where he directed sodalities and organizations for both the young men and women of the parish. In 1903, he was appointed Diocesan Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and in 1907 founded The Field Afar magazine, a monthly publication about the foreign missions of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America Walsh's interest in the foreign missions led to his founding, together with Rev. Thomas Frederick Price, the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (C.F.M.S.A.) (commonly referred to as the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers) in 1911. He acted as spiritual father and co-founder, with Mother Mary Joseph Rogers, of the Foreign Mission Sisters of St. Dominic (now called Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic). He served as Superior General of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers until his death in 1936. During the founding process and in his service as Superior General, Walsh made trips across the United States, to Rome and to other places throughout the world. A Lifetime of Service In 1933, Walsh was elected to the episcopacy and named Titular Bishop of Siene. He was consecrated in Rome on June 29, 1933, in the College of Propaganda Fide by Cardinal Fumasoni-Biondi. He died at Maryknoll, New York, on April 14, 1936.
  • Fr.Price
    Youth and Education As a youth, Price had close contact with the priests of his parish (St. Thomas, Wilmington, North Carolina). One priest who figured prominently in his early life was Bishop James Gibbons, newly appointed first Vicar Apostolic of North Carolina. Gibbons established his headquarters at St. Thomas Church and soon began to show a special interest in young Price. Price often served Mass for Gibbons and accompanied him on special trips throughout the Vicariate. With his religious background (especially the deep devotion of his mother to the Blessed Virgin), Price soon felt an attraction to the priesthood. He confided his interest to the parish priest, Fr. Mark Gross, and arrangements were made for him to enter St. Charles Seminary at Catonsville, Maryland, in August, 1876. On route to the seminary by ship, Price escaped death in the shipwreck of the Rebecca Clyde. Price attributed his survival to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After the accident, he returned home until January 1877. Price attended St. Charles' Seminary from January 1877, until his commencement on June 28, 1881. On September 1881, he entered St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 20, 1886, by Bishop Northrup at the pro-cathedral in Wilmington, North Carolina (Both of Price's parents had died prior to his ordination.) Price was the first North Carolinian to be ordained to the priesthood, and he was assigned to missionary work in the eastern section of his native state. Early Years of Priesthood Within one year after his ordination, Price was appointed the pastor of the few Catholics in and around the towns of Asheville and Bern. After the first few years of priesthood, he obtained permission from Bishop Haid, his ordinary, to begin a statewide evangelization program. His methods were influenced by Fr. Eliott, a famous Paulist preacher. One of Price's tools for evangelization was the publication of the magazine Truth, which he began to publish and edit in April 1897. A second tool was the establishment of Nazareth Orphanage in 1898. Price's plan was to first help the underprivileged of an area and thereby win the favor of the general population who would then be more inclined to listen to the message of the missionary. Following the success of the Nazareth Orphanage, Price organized summer catechizing teams of seminarians. Finally, in 1902, Price opened his missionary training house at Nazareth. It was a preparatory seminary whose sole purpose was the education and formation of missionaries for the home missions. It was called Regina Apostolorum. From 1902 to 1909, Price directed the Regina Apostolorum and acted as its primary teacher and spiritual director. Plans for a Foreign Mission Seminary As time went on, Price began to emphasize more and more often in the pages of Truth the need of a seminary for the training of young American men for the foreign missions. At the same time, Rev. James Anthony Walsh, of Boston, was developing the same idea in the pages of The Field Afar. At the Eucharistic Congress in Montreal in 1910, the two priests met and began to formulate plans for the establishment of a seminary for foreign missionaries. With the approval of the American hierarchy, the two priests traveled to Rome in June 1911, to receive final approval from Pope Pius X for their project. After meeting with the Holy Father, Price traveled to Lourdes for the first time. During his stay at Lourdes, Price had a spiritual experience that was to significantly affect all of his future life. Price refers to the experience in his personal diary. A special devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes and Bernadette Soubirous would follow him all the way to his death. Returning to the United States, Price, together with Walsh, began the plans for the establishment of the new seminary and the foreign mission society. After a brief stay at Hawthorne, New York, property was purchased at Ossining, New York, for the site of the new society: the American Catholic Foreign Mission Society (popularly known as Maryknoll). Foreign Missions Begin Price made an around-the-country tour of America to gain support for the new endeavor. By 1918, three young priests (Frs. James E. Walsh, Francis X. Ford, and Bernard F. Meyer) were ready for the foreign missions in China. On September 7, Price went with them as superior to the new missions. From the time of the foundation of Maryknoll, Price had understood that Walsh was the one capable of administering and directing the seminary itself. Price himself had always hoped to be chosen as one of Maryknoll's first missioners, and his dream was realized. Because of his age, Price had great difficulty learning the Chinese language. He also suffered from physical ailments. On September 12, 1919, he died in Hong Kong as a result of a burst appendix. In 1936, his body was exhumed and transferred to the cemetery at Maryknoll, New York. In 1955, his remains, together with those of Bishop James A. Walsh, were finally interred in the crypt below the Maryknoll Seminary Chapel.
  • History
    Maryknoll was established in 1911 as the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America by the Bishops of the United States. Responsibility for its development fell to two diocesan priests, Fr. James Anthony Walsh of Boston and Fr. Thomas Frederick Price of North Carolina, with the commission to recruit, send and support U.S. missioners in areas around the world. On June 29, 1911, Pope Pius X blessed the founding of Maryknoll. Maryknoll's first missioners left for China in 1918. Today there are over 475 Maryknoll priests and Brothers serving in countries around the world, principally in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

A Chinese Proverb


  • Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.

Chinese Wisdom

  • When we see men of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.
  • The superior man cannot be known in little matters, but he may be entrusted with great concerns. The small man may not be entrusted with great concerns, but he may be known in little matters.
  • The man who in view of gain thinks of righteousness; who in the view of danger is prepared to give up his life; and who does not forget an old agreement however far back it extends - such a man may be reckoned a complete man.
  • Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.
  • If a man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.
  • Those who are contented with what they have are often happy.
  • “A single beam cannot support a great house. ”
  • A vacant mind is open to all suggestions, as a hollow mountain returns all sounds.”
  • One's good deeds are only known at home; one's bad deeds far
  • He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount.
  • Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck, leads the flock
  • Much wealth will not come if a little does not go.
  • Words are the voice of the heart.
  • The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
  • Virtue cannot live in solitude; neighbors are sure to grow up around it.
  • When anger arises, think of the consequences.

God Needs Us


  • The hardest cross to bear in life is the thought that we are wasting our time, that we are useless, that the world is rushing along and we, apparently, have not yet found our feet. For the missioner the monotony of merely marking time, of facing petty tasks, or even manufacturing small jobs to kill time can be especially disheartening. This monotony readily suggests to a nervous conscience that we could be doing better work elsewhere, that we are not really appreciated at our full worth, and that we are not given a chance to show what we could accomplish in busier circumstances. All of us have our daydreams of ideal conditions in which we modestly achieve wonderful success through our own plans, and in these dreams it is difficult at times to distinguish between inspiration and vanity. We all have our moments of dreadful tedium, when even our favorite books are distasteful and when we favor a chance visitor with unusual cordiality. At such times we could recall with profit the worlds of the blind English poet Milton: “ Thousands at His bidding speed, and post o’er land and ocean without rest; they also serve who only stand and wait.” God needs us where we are at; we are active even being merely on call; and the Omnipresent God is beside us even when we feel alone….Sentry work is essential though seemingly inglorious. There is a tendency in modern moods to emphasize the emotional side of religion; and we are all somewhat tainted by this error. We are only too prone to look for sensible consolation in our mission work, and in their absence we are tempted to take a grim view of life. The remedy for this self-centered condition is contemplation and service of God. Contemplation takes us out of ourselves and focuses our attention on God; service of God instinctively issues from our contemplation. We see that God needs us in His redeeming of the human race; and we forget ourselves in satisfying God’s need. Bishop Francis Ford M.M.

Decisions

  • focus
    "There is, I think, nothing in the world more futile than the attempt to find out how a task should be done when one has not yet decided what the task is." - Alexander Meiklejohn

From I have a Dream


  • And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, From every mountainside, let freedom ring! And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that: Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Education


  • You should have education so that you won't have to look up to people; and then more education so that you will be wise enough not to look down on people. M.L. Boren

I CAN'T WAIT

Lessons for Life

  • Some Very Good Advice
    1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good. 2. When in doubt, just take the next small step. 3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. 4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch. 5. Pay off your credit cards every month. 6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree. 7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone. 8. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck. 9. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile. 10. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present. 11. It's OK to let your children see you cry. 12. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about. 13. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it. 14. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind. 15. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful. 16. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger. 17. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else. 18. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer. 19. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. (OK – NOT you guys) Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special. 20. Over prepare, then go with the flow. 21. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple. 22. No one is in charge of your happiness but you. 23. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?' 24. What other people think of you is none of your business. 25. Time heals almost everything. Give time time. 26. However good or bad a situation is, it will change. 27. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does. 28. Believe in miracles. 29. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now. 30. Your children get only one childhood. 31. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved. 32. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere. 33. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back. 34. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need. 35. The best is yet to come.

The source of faith


  • "Who am I?...I am one loved by Christ." Thomas Merton

Peace Prayer


  • Lord make me an instrument of your peace Where there is hatred, Let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is error, truth; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, Joy. O Divine Master grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled As to console; To be understood,as to understand; To be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

knowledge

  • knowledge
    It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.

The Eucharist


  • The nourishing quality of the eucharist, freely offered to anyone who's famished, has always been a central metaphor for me. I don't partake because I'm a good Catholic, holy pious and sleek. I partake because I'm a bad Catholic, riddled by doubt and anxiety and anger: fainting from severe hypoglycemia of the soul. I need food. Nancy Mairs

Seeking God


  • It needs more training to seek God among the rough stones of the dusty road than in the beauty of the sunset.

Building


  • He that gives good advice builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example builds with one hand and pulls down with the other. Francis Bacon

The Miracle


  • Maybe the burning bush was burning all the time and Moses didnt notice. Maybe the miracle is when you stop and pay attention. Francine Prose

John of the Cross


  • How amazing and pitiful it is that the soul be so utterly weak and impure that the hand of God, though light and gentle, should feel so heavy and contrary. For the hand of God does not press down or weigh upon the soul, but only touches it; and this mercifuly, for God's aim is to grant it favors and not chastise it. "The Dark Night," Book II Chapter 5

God's Love


  • God's love for us is not the reason for which we should love him. God's love for us is the reason for us to love ourselves. How could we love ourselves without this motive?

Be Not Afraid


  • It is the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance. It is a dream afraid of waking, that never takes a chance. It is the one who won't be taken, who cannot seem to give. And the soul afraid of dying, that never learns to live. A.McBroon

Spirituality


  • Spirituality is anything that reminds us we are already in the presence of a Loving God. Krister Stendahl

If my compassion is true


  • If my compassion is true,if it be a deep compassion of the heart and not a legal affair, or a mercy learned from a book and practiced on others like a pious exercise, then my compassion for others is God's mercy for me. My patience with them is His patience with me. My love for them is His love for me. Thomas Merton " No Man is an Island"

Youth learn by example


  • Nothing is so contagious as an example, and our every really good or bad action inspires a similar one.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Feast of the Visitation!! May 31, 2012

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If a man lives without inner struggle, if everything happens in him without opposition, he will remain such as he is!

 I started off the day with a nice walk with two of my former students (Fan Weiwei and Li Hongmei) and followed it up with the community mass at 7:30. My two visitors took off after lunch for Disneyland. I'm looking forward to hearing about their trip when they return this evening.

I was tied up in meetings for most of the day, but they were productive meetings and we accomplished quite a bit. 

Today's gospel and some comments:

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home.

 By every standard of the day, Mary was only barely human. She was not only female in a world ruled by men, she was unmarried (though betrothed); she was young in a world that valued age; she was poor in a world that saw poverty as God's curse; she was a peasant remote from the centres of power. Yet the Liturgy calls her “the greatest honour of our race.” (Incidentally, did the person who composed that line forget about Jesus at that point?) ‘Human’ must mean something deeper than power, recognition, and the rest.

Was she powerless then? “I am the servant of the Lord,” she said, “let it be done to me according to your word.” Does this confirm her in her identity as a powerless woman, passive and dependent? If so, then it confirms all women in that identity. But more: it confirms all disciples, all Christians – for Mary is seen as the perfect disciple, the model for all disciples, men as well as women.

As she crossed the hill country to visit her elderly cousin, she was not bearing a child for her husband, as other women did. She was in the role of a prophet. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you,” as later the Spirit would later overshadow Jesus at the Transfiguration (Luke 9:34), and the group of disciples in the upper room (Acts 1:8). In her, God is doing a new thing. She does not model conventionality and social compliance; she is in the line of Old Testament valiant women, as her Magnificat makes clear. In her the spiritual paradox of power and powerlessness is plain to see.

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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Tuesday May 29th, 2012

 My mother said to me, “If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.” Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso. -Pablo Picasso

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I am back in Hong Kong after a quick weekend up i nJilin to help celebrate the graduation of the 07 Nursing Students. One of the graduates, Li Hongmei, came down to Hong Kong with me to spend a couple of weeks with me before heading back to Jilin to start her career as a nurse at Jilin University Hospital. We hope that she is feeling like a VIP!

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At the radio station on Sunday night for this week's show.

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Our engineer, Gary. A great guy, but unfortunately a Miami Heat fan!

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On Victoria Harbor heading to Hong Kong from Kowloon.

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Enjoying a sandwich at Starbucks!!

Today's gospel and some comments:

Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age - houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions - and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first." Mark 10:28-31

The family in oriental societies was all-embracing. It was the concrete reality; beside it, the individual was an abstraction. Within the family the father was the decision-maker in every matter, even religious faith.

A friend of mine likes to provoke his audience by announcing, “Jesus did not believe in family values!” This guarantees a lively participation by the audience and a fresh look at passages such as today’s gospel reading. There is evidence of conflict in the early Church between Jesus’ family and his disciples: it would be natural for his family members to take over once he was gone. This dilemma was sorted out, but it is clear that during his life he called people out of family. His own family believed what people were saying about him: that he was mad. “His family… went out to restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind.’” (Mark 3.21; see John 10:20). There is an even stronger text: “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26). He defended the commandment to honor one’s father and mother (Mk 7:10-13), but here he was asserting freedom from control by one’s family. The call to discipleship is not necessarily in conflict with family, but in case of conflict it has to take priority over it.

Here we have the oft-repeated paradox of the Gospel, set off very clearly against yesterday’s account of the rich young man: when we try to possess something we lose it; it is only when we are prepared to give it away that it really becomes ours (Mt 10:39; 16:25; Mk 8:30; Lk 9:24). We have to relinquish the tight, self-enclosed, controlling aspects of family life if we are to experience life-giving family. It is not that discipleship is to be an alternative to family life; it is rather that discipleship has to penetrate family life.

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Monday, May 28, 2012

Graduation 2012.....Thanks for the Memories Class of 2007!!

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Sunday, May 27, 2012

Breaking News!!!

 

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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Thursday May 24, 2012

Lending to a spendthrift is like pelting a trespassing dog with meat dumplings. - Chinese Proverb

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Monday, May 21, 2012

Monday, May 21, 2012

Eclipse
"The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little." - Thomas Merton

 I was up a good part of the night watching the Tigers and Pittsburgh play and then started the day with a morning walk (hopefully I will be able to keep this going on a daily basis) followed by community mass.

I have a week full of meetings (Monday-Thursday) ahead of me and then I plan to fly up to Jilin to attend the graduation dinner of the nursing students. They have learned by example and are now ready to begin their careers as nurses in hospitals all over the mainland.

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One of the 2012 graduates......Li Hongmei.

My meeting today was at Maryknoll Secondary School in Kowloon. I met with the school's Independent Management Committee to discuss a number of important issues.

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Maryknoll Secondary School Principal, Mr. Martin Lai.

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Mr. Martin Lai and Fr. Thomas Peyton M.M., Supervisor of Maryknoll Secondary School.

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Someone asked me on my last trip home, how far is it from Hong Kong to Jilin! I think it is about 1600 miles....or in this case, too far for the crow too fly! 

Today's gospel and some comments:

His disciples said, ‘Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do you now believe? The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!’ John 16:29-33

It was not the first time that disciples claimed to have perfect understanding. Earlier in the gospel Peter had said, ‘We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God’. The same Peter also claimed to be ready to lay down his life for Jesus. Both claims proved to be more than a little premature.

Ignorance is bliss, we say. It is effortless and unlimited, a calm unruffled universe. But knowledge has narrow boundaries that are the cause of endless argument and conflict. Knowledge always drives you out of some kind of paradise and sets you against your brother. Then begins the long futile struggle to regain that infinite calm… by knowing everything. It is ultimately futile because everyone, even the most learned, remains ignorant – only about different things. And so the wisest words of all are “I don’t know.” Socrates wanted to know who was the wisest person in Athens. The Delphic Oracle said, “You are!” “That is impossible,” replied Socrates, “because I am aware that I know nothing.” “That,” said the Oracle, “is why you are the wisest person in Athens.”

Those disciples of Jesus thought they had finally understood everything about him. They were full of confidence – because they had not yet seen the cross. “The cross of Christ,” as Paul would see so clearly later on, “is foolishness,” but this foolishness is God’s wisdom. “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world…? Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (I Corinthians 1:18-24). Before the crucifixion the disciples thought they finally had it all together, that they had Jesus in a kind of frame; but he promised them that they would be scattered. They will all be scattered until they are gathered again beyond the cross by the Risen Christ.

In the New Community, the Church, it is a new kind of knowledge that will hold them together: a knowledge that doesn’t look like knowledge at all. The mystics through the ages have spoken of it from their experience. “The mind is amazed at the extent of all it can understand,” wrote St Teresa of Avila, “for God wills it to realize that it understands nothing of what he represents to it.”

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More photos from the Michigan Wedding

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With old friends Pat Iding (left) and Pat Sullivan (right).

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from left: Pat Sullivan, Pat Iding and Brian

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With my Godson Joey and his fiance Addie Finelli

 

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Sunday, May 20, 2012

Sunday May 20, 2012 (Ascension Sunday)

River scene

Life is what we make it, and the world is what we make it. The eyes of the cheerful and of the melancholy man are fixed upon the same creation; but very different are the aspects which it bears to them.

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I got up early to see Wang Wei and the nursing students off. They had a 6:00 am taxi and a 11:00 am flight from Shenzhen airport. It was great having them here for the past week. I think they all got a lot out of the program.

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I was planning on traveling to Kowloon this morning to attend  the 50th anniversary celebration of a parish founded by Maryknoll, but my schedule over the past three weeks finally caught up with me and I decided to take the day off and rest.

I have a full-week of meetings coming up and it has been a little more difficult than usual getting over the jet lag this time! 

Today's gospel and some comments:

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Go into the whole world
and proclaim the gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs. Mark 16:15-20

The Gospels contain many parables of a master who sets out on a long journey and gives his servants charge of his estate until his return. In the feast of the Ascension of the Lord parable becomes reality. Jesus departs to his heavenly Father and leaves his disciples in charge of the affairs of his kingdom till his return in glory. Each of the Gospels we have ends with a scene in which Jesus finally takes leave of his disciples. These farewell scenes focus not on describing the event in detail but on the last words that Jesus leaves with his disciples. In fact, the very fact of a bodily ascension of Jesus into heaven is described only by Luke. It is Luke who wrote the Acts of the Apostles from which we got our first reading today. A later ending of Mark also includes the Ascension. There are important similarities and differences between Luke and Acts on the one hand, and Matthew and Mark on the other, regarding the details of this farewell scene.

For example, in Luke-Acts the Ascension takes place in Jerusalem, whereas in Matthew and Mark it takes place in Galilee. Both traditions, however, agree that it took place on a mountain. In Luke-Acts the Ascension happens forty days after the Resurrection during which period Jesus appears repeatedly to his followers. In Matthew and Mark there is no indication of this time period between the Resurrection and the Ascension, rather the first appearance of Jesus to his disciples after the resurrection is also the last. The gospel writers apparently were not aiming at accuracy in historical details; they were more concerned with transmitting a message.

So what is the message, the charge that Jesus gives his disciples as he takes physical leave of them? The message is phrased differently in the Acts and in the Gospels:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover. (Mark 16:15-18)

These are the last words of Jesus as recorded differently in the Acts and in Matthew and Mark. All of them are in agreement that:  Jesus gave his disciples a mission, a task to engage them till he returns in glory, and that he assured them of divine assistance in the carrying out of this mission.

The mission is to bear witness to the Good News of Jesus to the ends of the earth, to go into all nations of the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.. The universal reach of this mission is very clear. The message of Jesus is meant to be good news in the ears of all humankind irrespective of nationality or culture. Given the fact that till date many nations have embraced other religions in preference to the gospel, maybe it is time to ask: Are these people rejecting the message of Jesus or are they rejecting the messengers and the way in which they have presented it? The air of superiority and triumphalism assumed by many Christian missionaries is a disservice to the gospel and not part of the good news. Have we perhaps spoilt the Good Story in the telling?

At the beginning of the twentieth century, some mission-minded Christians started a periodical and called it "The Christian Century." That title was an expression of their triumphalistic belief that by the end of the century the whole world would have been Christianized. Today we have hopefully grown wiser and humbler as we realize that in the 20th century, not only did we fail to Christianize the whole world, but rather that we added two world wars to our record of "accomplishments."

The spreading of the Good News to all nations is not a goal that can be attained by dint of human might and craft. That is why Jesus promises to empower his messengers from on high by his abiding presence and the Holy Spirit. The challenge of sharing the Good News with all humankind should, therefore, begin on our knees as we confess that we have often taken matters into our own selfish human hands and promise to give the Holy Spirit a chance.

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Saturday, May 19, 2012

Saturday May 19, 2012

   "To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice." - Confucius

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Yesterday was the final day of their clinical placement at Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital for the nursing students from Jilin. To help celebrate their experience and the new friendships they made we hosted a barbeque here a the Stanley House for them, some Hong Kong students and some leaders and staff from the hospital.

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The weather didn't cooperate so we had to do the cooking on a porch and move the meal inside, but it still was  a fun time for all.

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Today's gospel and some comments:

On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. ‘I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly of the Father. On that day you will ask in my name. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.’ John 16: 23-28

“On that day” (that is, ‘when you see me again’, after the resurrection) “if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” He is saying that our prayer should be addressed to the Father, but “in my name”, that is, in the presence of Jesus. This is the pattern of prayer in the Liturgy. The Eucharistic prayer is invariably addressed to the Father, “through him (Jesus), with him and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.” All our prayer has the pattern of the Trinity stamped on it.

This does not mean that we should never pray to anyone but the Father. In the Catholic tradition we feel free to pray to Jesus, Mary and the saints, but always in the full knowledge that the Father is the ultimate destination of all prayer – just as every stream, even the raindrops streaming down your window pane, is making its way to the sea.

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Friday, May 18, 2012

Friday, May 18, 2012

 "A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea." - John Anthony Ciardi 

Last night I went out for dinner with the nursing students from Jilin. Br. Sebastian treated all of us to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. As you can see from some of the pictures we all had a good time.

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I went over to Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital where they were just finishing up a review of the day to meet them.

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We took the subway to Tai Ko

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and enjoyed looking around the shopping mall while waiting for Br. Sebastian to arrive

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the students enjoyed ordering off the great menu

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and then we had a group picture after the meal.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. John 16:20-23

Joy! It is a beautiful word!  “No one will take your joy from you,” Jesus said. Joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. “Love, joy, peace, patience, understanding, kindness and fidelity, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23). Happiness is always caused: there is a natural reason for it; but joy is uncaused: it comes straight from God. Happiness is for cats and dogs; joy is for human beings!

Because joy is uncaused, no cause can undermine it. “We call ‘joy’ that state of mind and emotions that needs nothing to feel happy,” wrote André Gide. If we knew more joy - if we knew how to rejoice and how to enjoy - we would do less damage to the world, to ourselves and to one another. The pleasure-seeker continues eternally to seek pleasure only because he doesn't really know how to enjoy anything; instead, he is trapped in the vicious circle of a joyless obsession. Oh for a little joy!

 

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