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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

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.

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!!!

« March 2009 | Main | May 2009 »

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Let the May Day Weekend Begin! (April 30th, 2009)

Jilin City2If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything. – Bill Lyon

I started the day with the walk, mass in the chapel and then breakfast with a lively group of freshmen. The students are free through the weekend after their last class today; this morning’s breakfast gang was looking forward to making a quick exit from the campus at around noontime.

The first two periods I had the freshmen for writing class. I gave them an in-class timed writing assignment and also some dictation work. The rest of the class we went over the results of a test that they took before I left for Hong Kong.

The rest of the morning was spent in the office. The freshmen turned in their journals on Tuesday and I finally started correcting them this morning. I will be spending a good chunk of time over the next three days reading journals and correcting papers. The third year nursing students turned in their term papers yesterday. Fortunately those grades don't have to be submitted until June so I am in no big rush.

Liu Bo stopped by the office this morning to go over some stuff that I want her to do when my nephew Mark and his girlfriend Alisa arrive in a couple of weeks.I am going to have Liu Bo teach Mark and Alisa some basic conversational Chinese. Liu Bo is doing well and keeping herself busy getting ready for an exam later this year.

I had an email from Tim today. He is planning a trip to Jilin for sometime this summer. He has a course he has to take at Western Michigan before being free to travel.

Campus Couple

Campus Couple of the Week!

I spent the better part of the afternoon hanging out with students in the second dining Mail-3 hall. The NBA playoffs are now underway and the dining hall TVs carry at least two games each day. Houston (Yao Ming) didn't have a game today so there wasn't quite as much excitement in the dining hall. When Yao Ming's Rockets are playing the excitement meter is right up there. Still it was quite a bit of fun hanging out with the guys and watching some hoops. Quite a bit of fun that is, unless your team was getting killed and you were the only student cheering for your team. In that case it was a miserable way to spend the noon hour and early part of the afternoon.

I got a really nice birthday gift from Wang Ping and Jiayi. It is sort of a photo story of my life and work here in China on a CD. I love it as it has the pictures of some very special people in my life. Here it is:  Download For Brian

My Tigers took the first game of the three game series against New York 4-2 and then China's Top Tiger Fan got pounded 11-0 in the second game and they also lost the rubber game of the series last night.They are still in first place in what is basically a four team tie at the top of the AL Central. Cleveland comes to town for a three game weekend series and then Aaron's Twins will arrive for a three-game series beginning on Monday. The Tigers are playing good ball; the two losses to the Yankees both involved one horrific inning that doomed the Tigers. 

The swine flu continues to spread and the WHO has now raised the alert level to 5 (6 is the highest);a phase 5 alert means there is sustained transmission among people in at least two countries. Once the virus shows effective transmission in two different regions of the world, a full pandemic outbreak — level 6 — would be declared, meaning a global epidemic of a new and deadly disease.

SwinFlu2_Symptoms

Today’s gospel and some comments:

No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ Jn 6:44-51

“No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father...” We cannot do it for ourselves – or for anyone else. It is a work of grace, God’s attractive power, not human pushing. In other times it was believed that we could be pushed into faith, or at least pushed towards it. But being pushed makes a person resist. It has often been said that if good were forbidden, more people would do it! The best way to move a person is to attract rather than push: we are more easily drawn from in front than driven from behind.

St Augustine commented on this verse, “He did not say lead, but draw. This ‘violence’ is done to the heart, not to the body....Believe and you come; love and you are drawn. Do not suppose here any rough and uneasy violence. It is gentle, it is sweet, it is the sweetness that draws you. Is not a sheep drawn when fresh grass is shown to it in its hunger? Yet I imagine that it is not driven bodily on, but bound by desire. In this way too you come to Christ: do not imagine long journeys; in the very place where you believe, there you come. For to him who is everywhere we come by love, not by sailing.” 

Attraction is always less clear and less satisfactory than compulsion. But Jesus rejected the way of compulsion and chose the way of love and attraction. It’s sloppier than any other, sometimes almost chaotic. But the wisdom of the Gospel tells us it is the only one that has no trap built into it. “Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbor” (Romans 13:10).

Posted at 04:04 PM | | Comments (0)

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Felicia's Fight Pictures

Before the Run

Mark, Julie, Gayle, Jan, Bruce, Marty, and Joan
Tom and emily
Tom and Emily
Joan, Kelly and Julie
Joan, Kelly and Julie
Felicia and kids
Felicia and Kids
Felicia's Fight



Felicia's Supporters


Felicia1

Posted at 06:11 AM | | Comments (0)

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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Wang Wei's Birthday (April 29, 2009)

WWW

With willing hearts and skillful hands, the difficult we do at once; the impossible takes a bit longer.

Wang wei at work

Today I begin the blog with special birthday greetings for Wang Wei. (Wang Wei is away With students from Jilin for this birthday as she is in the US as part of the nursing exchange program  between Baker College and Jilin Medical College.) Readers of this blog know what a Wang wei and John wonderful young lady Wang Wei is and how important she is to my work here in China.

Wang Wei was one of my first students in China and has been working as my personal assistant for almost nine years. As my personal assistant she does an awful lot of With rad and liu bo work. She is the chief researcher for the radio show, my financial advisor, office director, guest master and translator, photographer and best friend. She is also a Tianji volunteer and a friend and advisor for all the young Maryknoll teachers who pass this way. To sum it up in a nutshell she is an integral part of everything Translator that I am involved in here and for her dedication and loyalty I am deeply grateful.

Wang Wei rarely reads this blog, but I have a feeling that since she is far away from Jilin these days she might be glancing at The Great Wall every now and then. If she is reading this blog on her special day then I want to wish her all the best and a  Happy Birthday!! Ad multos Annos!!

DSCN3667

It was back to business as usual this morning. I got up and walked, had mass in the chapel and then came over to the office to have breakfast with a group of freshmen. It felt good to be back into the regular routine.

It was a long day for me as I had classes all morning and afternoon. I have a writing class tomorrow morning and then we will begin a long weekend to celebrate May Day (Workers Day) here in China. After the trip to Hong Kong and back this long weekend is coming at a perfect time.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.’ Jn 6:35-40

“Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.” But they had come, and they were hungry! They had followed him up the mountain, bringing no food, and they were starving. 

As always in John's gospel, there is another layer of meaning. The food they had eaten was real enough, but it symbolized another kind of food that he was providing for another kind of hunger. “I am the bread of life,” he said. I am what satisfies the deepest needs of humanity. I am the most intimate reality in your life: as intimate to you, as sustaining, as the food in your mouth. I am the one who keeps your awareness bright like a lamp, your heart warm, your will healthy, strong and gentle. I am the one who enables you to raise your eyes, to see beauty and glory in the world, and to open the eye of your spirit till you see God....

This past winter I came across a copy of the old catechism. I hadn't seen a copy in many years. It was kind of strange to turn those pages again. The words were familiar and somehow terrible – less for what they said than for what they didn’t say. In the first section, which dealt with God, God was described as Creator and Lord of all things, who rewards the good and punishes the wicked. He was well positioned to do this, since he “sees our most secret thoughts and actions.” There was no mention that God loved us – still less that God was love. I was suddenly aware of how damaged many of us were by that catechism. There was no knowledge of God in it. “Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8). Errors aren’t only in what you say, they are also in what you fail to say. To fail to say, in a section specifically on God, that God is love, or that God loves us, is to show oneself to have been untouched by the New Testament. 

Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me will never be hungry”. That catechism left many starving, and it is not surprising that many starved to death spiritually. Today's gospel reading merits long meditation. 

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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Back in River City! (April 28, 2009)

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"If a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it." - Edgar Howe 

Domestic Arrivals

Back in Jilin

We arrived back in Jilin City last evening at around 6:00. It was a good trip back and the students were able to suck every last minute of fun out of it. They were out on the town in Shenzhen Sunday evening and a litte tired at the airport yesterday morning.

Liu Shaoying is tired

Jose and Students

We left Stanley just after lunch on Sunday. My classmate Fr. Jose and a few other Maryknollers who were in the house saw us off.

Sr. Marilu and the students

Sr. Marilu from Our Lady of Maryknoll hospital met us at the Hong Hum train station in Hong Kong to say hello and goodbye. Sr. Marilu is the person at the hospital responsible for helping to get this program going. She just got back to Hong Kong on Saturday night and was nice enough to come over to the station to say hello to the students.

Dinner

We spent Sunday night in Shenzhen just north of Hong Kong and then had an early morning flight back to Changchun yesterday. On Sunday night I was treated to a delicious meal in my hotel room by none other than the Pinger herself. The meal was actually just WP so-so, but the company was  great. I got Wang Ping a room at the hotel so we were able to stay up late talking about a bunch of stuff. She then went to see us off at the airport in the morning.

Wang Ping is doing quite well. She continues to learn a few new things at work in the area of logistics. She is also looking into some interesting job options for the future either in Shenzhen or other parts of China. She remains very active at her parish in Shenzhen, which of course makes me very happy. 

She gave me a very nice birthday present. I got a CD with pictures of so many of my former students that sort of tells the story of my work with Chinese students over the past ten years. She obviously put a lot of effort into making it and I am very thankful to her for taking the time to do that.

I was kept pretty busy today with a number of tasks. With Wang Wei in the US things are going to be crazy in the office for the next two months. I went to the banks today and that took me a good three hours. It might have taken that long if Wang Wei was here, but I doubt it. ^_^

Li Zhuo

Li Zhuo (Brianna) is in town and she came over to the office today to say hello. She has about a week off for May Day and they get the vacation time before the holiday. It was good to see her again and since she is in Jilin for this week, I will be seeing more of her over the next few days.

Fortunately, I didn’t have any classes scheduled for today. The schedule this week is a little different because of the three-day weekend beginning after classes on Thursday. That definitely worked in my favor. Tomorrow will be a different story in terms of my schedule as I have six hours of lectures scheduled.

Springtime in Jilin

The Jilin weather is springlike, but not as nice as Hong Kong. We have a long weekend coming up to celebrate May Day (Workers Day) and the forecast isn't too bad.

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Ordonez homers

My Tigers continue to play good baseball and while their record is just a notch above .500 China's Top Tiger Fan they are showing some decent pitching together with the hitting that everyone expected last season when they signed their big hitters for big bucks. Last night the beat the Yankees 4-2 at Comerica adding to what is quickly becoming another crisis for George Steinbrenner and crew. I think the Tigers are going to make this summer a very interesting one. The AL Central race is going to be a lot of fun to follow and I have a feeling that there will be a three or four team race to the wire.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

Then they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” ’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. Jn 6:30-35

They said, “What sign are you going to give us then?” But he had just given them a sign! In fact it was a sign that impressed them so much that they wanted to make him king. This seems kind of weird to put it mildly! However, when you look at the original you notice that the verbs are in the present tense, not in the future as this and other translations have it. So the people do not seem to be asking for another sign, but rather for his interpretation of the sign he had just given – as if to say, “What is this sign you are giving us...? Explain what you are doing!” They themselves are comparing his sign with that of Moses, who likewise produced food in the wilderness. Some Jews saw Moses as a king, so these are suggesting that Jesus should allow them to make him king.

Jesus replied, “I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.” Again the question of tenses: in this case Jesus shifts their statement about Moses from the past to the present tense. The real provider of bread in the desert was God, and it is the same God (“my Father”) who in the present moment is providing bread for his people. But Jesus is more than a provider of bread like Moses; he is himself the bread that the Father is providing.

Like the Samaritan woman, they misinterpreted his statement, thinking he was talking about bread in the ordinary sense, just as she thought he was talking only about well-water. Later on, when they realized he was referring to himself, and not to bread, they were rather disappointed: “They began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven'".

Including this instance, Jesus uses the phrase “I am..” seven times in John’s gospel: I am the bread of life; I am the light of the world; I am the gate; I am the Good Shepherd; I am the resurrection and the life; I am the way, the truth and the life; I am the true vine. It has an echo of God’s ‘I am’ in Exodus 3:14. Jesus himself is God’s present tense, God’s ‘I am’.

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Sunday, April 26, 2009

Final Day in Hong Kong and Maryknoll Stanley (April 26, 2009)

Hong Kong

Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation. - Oscar Wilde

Stanley

I have a free morning here at Stanley so I will be able to make a post today. The students are down at the Stanley Market taking full advantage of their last morning in Hong Kong. We will be leaving the Maryknoll house just after lunch.

I had a nice chat with Wang Wei this morning. She and Wang Hongming spent a good part of the day with Tim. He took them to do some shopping and Lansing sightseeing as well as a stop at DeLuca's for a pizza. All is going well with those two.

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I took the students along with Norma and Susan out to Chang Zhou Island for dinner last night and we had a good time. The weather wasn't the best, but even in the rain the island is a great place to be. Both Sr. Norma and Sr. Susan are doing great and are continuing to make progress with the difficult Cantonese language. It was good to have some time with them once again.

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My Tigers are hanging in there and continue to play winning baseball. They are still tied for the lead in the AL Central. I have been so busy with the students and the hospital that I haven’t been following them as closely as I would like. That will change once I get back to Jilin.

Today’s gospel and some comments: 

Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Lk 24:35-48

When a Chinese high school student once said to me, "You're only projecting!" I knew that there were no hiding places left; the whole world now knows about projection. It is one of the most common perils of the religious quest. We are apt to project our fantasies, our needs, our insecurities into a sphere where we think they will be fully satisfied and at the same time safe from criticism, safe indeed from testing of any kind. 

The disciples thought they were seeing a ghost, and Jesus was at pains to assure them that he was no ghost, no projection. Ghosts don’t say, "Have you anything here to eat?" If Jesus is not truly risen he is only a ghost. Ghosts are the past that didn’t die properly. If Jesus did not truly die he is not truly risen. He had to die in the past so that he could be with us in the present, "the first-born from the dead." We too have to die to the past if we are to meet him where he is. "If we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his" (Romans 6:5).

When we can find no security in the present we look for it in the past. "The past at least is secure," said some failed politician. But while the past may give a feeling of security, it does not give security – because time is moving, not fixed. Or we look for security in the future. We are always looking for a railing to hold onto, because the ground under our feet is moving. I always feel we would prefer an unresurrected Christ. He would be fixed and immovable, altogether more stable. We could own and control him. But he is risen, he cannot be owned, he is the vehicle of the Spirit which blows where it wills. 

Talk is easy. When we have said a lot of things we have the impression that we have done something. A good test of whether we understand something is to say it with our mouth closed: say it without words. What does it mean to say that Christ is risen from the dead? It means nothing actually to me unless I am also rising from the dead, now. Things can really be understood only from the inside.

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Saturday, April 25, 2009

Hong Kong Day 6 (April 25, 2009)




Felicia's Fight

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"To every thing there is a season, and time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 


The students spent the better part of the day at Ocean Park. I have never been there, but from their description it is sort of Sea World type of place. The weather wasn't the best (a little rainy would be putting it mildly), but that didn't seem to dampen their spirits and I think they had a good time.

I spent the day answering emails and as of this moment, I am caught up. I now owe nobody an email. A very good feeling!!

This evening the students and I are going to have dinner with Srs. Norma and Susan. It will be good to see those two again and I am sure the students will enjoy seeing them again, too.

Tomorrow we leave Stanley just after lunch and will spend the night near the airport in Shenzhen. We have an early morning flight on Monday. I am hoping to hook up with Wang Ping while in Shenzhen.

Most likely the next posting on this blog will be Tuesday from Jilin.

Today’s gospel and some comments: 

 Jesus said to them, ‘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.’ So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it. Mk 16:15-20


Today is the feast of St Mark the evangelist, writer of the earliest of the gospels. He had a stormy beginning: he set out on a missionary journey with his uncle Barnabas, and Paul; but he quit after a while (Acts 13:13). Later, Paul refused to  180px-Mark_Evangelist take him with him on another missionary journey (Acts 15:37-40). Then there are some years when nothing is heard of him. But when we meet him again, to our surprise he is a prisoner with Paul in Rome (Col 4:10); and Paul makes a few very appreciative references to him in a later letter (2 Tim 4:11). Mark had redeemed himself in Paul’s eyes. So it appears that even the one of the great evangelist can be in the dog-house for a time! So why not you or I? 


 Mark’s gospel leaves an impression of breathless haste; it is like a child telling a story. Many sentences begin with “And”; he often uses phrases like “straight away”, “and immediately”; he uses the ‘historic present’ (“Jesus says to them,” not said), which gives a feeling of urgency. The Old Testament took thousands of years to unfold, but the New Testament unfolded in just a couple of years. There is an urgency about the gospels – Mark’s in particular – that makes it quite clear they are not just for reading; they are for doing. 


In its original form Mark’s gospel has only a very inadequate account of the Resurrection. It ended at 16:8, “[The women] went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.....” This would be a very great anti-climax to the story of Jesus; the good news would not have gone very far. Scholars therefore talk about “the lost ending.” There is an ending in place, of course. Today’s reading is from that added part. It is regarded as canonical; but the style shows that it was not written by Mark. Good News gets out, one way or another. 

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Hong Kong Day 5 (April 24th, 2009)

Felicia

"Everything that emancipates the spirit without giving us control over ourselves is harmful." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The students went on house-calls with the community nursing office at the hospital this morning and I took care of some business here at Maryknoll and at the bank. 

I went over to the hospital around 11:00 to have a meeting with the hospital leaders to set up a few dates for future clinical placements and also to invite the leaders to come visit us in Jilin.

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The hospital took all of us out for lunch and we had a great meal.

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The final part of the program was a little ceremony at the end of the day that involved a few words from the leaders and a group picture was given to everyone.

After the program finished this afternoon I went out on the town with the students and had a good time.

DSCN3594The gang on the Star Ferry.

DSCN3599The students on one of Hong Kong's famous nightlife streets.

We got back to Stanley quite late and thus the late posting of today’s blog. I need to get this finished and then hit the sack. Tomorrow morning is a free morning for me so I plan to sleep in.

Today’s gospel and some comments: 

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’ When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. Jn 6:1-15

 If you remember the days of the Latin mass and Latin prayers you might remember this one: Panem de coelo praestitisti eis (“You gave them bread from heaven”)? And the response, “Omne delectamentum in se habentem” (literally, “having in itself every delight”). I have no idea how this response ever came to be translated “We have eaten the bread of angels.” The one thing the Eucharist certainly is not is the bread of angels. It is the bread of human beings. Angels don’t need bread, plain or sacramental. The sacraments are for us, creatures of body and soul, not for angels.

Angels are depicted with wings; they are imagined sitting in the air. But we belong on the earth; we sit on the ground. In today’s gospel passage Jesus invited the people to sit on the ground.

Sitting on the ground is a symbol of poverty and powerlessness; it means we have no illusions of grandeur. We don’t often sit on the ground nowadays, and almost never at Mass. But when we are at Mass we are spiritually those disciples in today’s reading, sitting on the ground in humility and simplicity, sharing our poverty and (because of it) sharing the Lord's gift. Miracles seem to happen in situations of scarcity rather than plenty. Where there is plenty there is no need of miracles! Where there is plenty you don't have to struggle, you don't have to come up against realities too painfully, you just ease your way through with a check book. But in the story those people had almost nothing. There were only five loaves to feed thousands. John says they were barley loaves. This was the cheapest kind of bread; in fact barley was really considered animal-feed. It is only the very poor who would eat barley loaves. 

The miracle is that some kind of abundance came from that poverty. This is not the crude ‘gospel of prosperity’ that you sometimes hear from radio and television preachers. No, John would be sickened by such an interpretation. He is not talking about business, but about the Eucharist. Whatever divides us from one another (greed, self-sufficiency, illusions of grandeur) divides us also from God and God's gift.

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Thursday, April 23, 2009

Hong Kong Day 4 (April 23, 2009)

Stanley Maryknoll House

"I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness and the willingness to remain vulnerable." - Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I got up early and said goodbye to Fr. Ed McGovern who is flying back to New York today. I then had mass in the chapel followed by breakfast with the students.

Breakfast

This morning I went to the hospital with the students. They are doing well and having a great experience.

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At Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital.

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I left the hospita early and this afternoon went with my classmate Fr. Jose to Central Pier to catch a boat to Changzhou Island. We went out there in February and I really like the place, so we made a trip out there again today.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true. He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath. Jn 3:31-36

“The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything into his hands.” There are many similar phrases in John’s gospel. Here are a few: “The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he is doing”. “Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands”. All that the Father has is mine”. “Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you”. The Son in turn gives everything to the Father, “All I have is yours, and all you have is mine”.

Jesus, in turn, has given us everything, “I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father”. “The glory you have given me, I have given them”.

The word ‘everything’ seems to be God's kind of word; and the word ‘all’. It was the fundamental command, the ‘Schema Israel’, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut 6:5). God is not interested in how much it amounts to, so long as it is everything: the widow’s mite was “all she had to live on” (Mk 12:44). We may not have much, but we have everything! When we give everything we have we are being drawn into the life of the Trinity.

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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Hong Kong and Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital Day 3

April 21st, 2009 Last night the Maryknollers here in Hong Kong got together to celebrate ordination anniversaries. Above from left to right: Fr. Jack Cuff (40 years), Frs Brian Barrons and Jose Aramburu (25 years), Frs. Johh Cioppa and Dennis Hanley (50 years). Ad Multos Annos!

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 Fr.Cioppa the Local Superior

 

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You can add your own captions to the above photos!!

Today’s gospel and some comments:


‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.’ Jn 3:16-21 

“God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.”  It is much easier to condemn the world than to save it, much easier to say what you disapprove of than to go out and do something useful.




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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Hong Kong and Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital (Day 2)

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The day started with some pictures in front of the hospital's main entrance.


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Some gifts for the leader


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Our students and teacher were ready to begin the program. (Cui Xinxin, Wang Liqun and Qi Yan)


DSCN3422The nursing instructors at the hospital were ready, too. 


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A lecture on hospital infection control.
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Good  students


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Take a break


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Monday, April 20, 2009

Jilin Medical College Nursing Students in Hong Kong (Day 1)

JMC Nursing Students

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." - Mohandas Gandhi

We left the college at 4:30 this morning to catch the bus for the airport. That was too early to get in a morning walk so I started the day with mass in the chapel and then headed for the airport.

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We took the 5:30 bus to Changchun Longjia International Airport. Our flight left right on time at 9:10 a.m. 

On the Train from the border 

We flew via Qingdao to Shenzhen and crossed into Hong Kong on foot from there. Fro the border we took the train to downtown Hong Kong and then a taxi to the Maryknoll House just in time for dinner. 

Getting ready to set out for a little sightseeing

After dinner we went out for a little sightseeing...

Ice Cream

 and ice cream around the Stanley area.

Wu Jingsi and Brian

Tomorrow will be the students first day in the hospital.

My Tigers got the rubber game of their three game weekend series against Seattle. Tiger pitcher Ricky PorcelloThe are currently in a three-way tie for first place in the AL Central with a 7-5 record. A huge improvement on last season's start and lots of indications that this is going to be a fun season to follow them. Tiger pitcher Ricky Porcello got his first major league win in Detroit's 8-2 win yesterday. Ricky retired the last 14 batters he faced (that will usually get you a win) and the Tigers big question mark going into the season (pitching) is looking pretty good.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Jn 3:7b-15

In Hebrew and Aramaic, the scholars tell us, the same word means ‘spirit’, ‘breath’, and ‘wind’. These are well known and yet unknown realities. Of the four elements – fire, air, earth and water – only earth has fixed shapes; and in the long term even these shapes are not fixed. But the most volatile of the elements is air. The world is perpetually changing, and it’s hard to “get a fix on it,” as they say. But do we have to get a fix on it before we can live in it? Not at all. We live quite successfully with the unfixed and the unknown. In fact there is no fixity anywhere, except as a thought in the mind.

“Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything” (Qoheleth, 11:5). The words of Jesus in today’s passage may be an echo of that verse. “The wind blows where it pleases…. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” It is the same then with the Holy Spirit as with wind, spirit, breath...

Alan Watts once remarked that “a certain type of mind is frightened by the mutability, the elusiveness, and the mystery of life, and thinks of salvation as a state of everlasting fixity and certainty from which the disconcerting elements of spontaneity, surprise and mystery are largely removed.” We call ‘fundamentalist’ those people who fix their faith in some text as in concrete, casting aside every other consideration. They think that by fixing on a text they have grasped God. It is a waste of a good word; they are not fundamentalists; they are superficialists, like the Pharisees. Neither are they traditionalists: they cast tradition aside and fix on their own simplistic literal interpretation of a text. We have to throw open the shutters and let the Spirit enter the narrow caves in which we bury ourselves.

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Sunday, April 19, 2009

Bags Packed and Ready to Go! (April 19th, 2009)

Med_Students_after_English_Corner  

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is an absurd one. - Voltaire 

I got up early and walked. There was a very fine mist in the air when I set out and it continued for the entire walk. It was a really nice feeling and on this side of the city there is no danger of acid rain, so I wasn’t worried about that. I'll be saying mass later today.

With_Aaron

As I mentioned the other day, Aaron is in town. He will be in Jilin for most of the week taking care of some stuff concerning the young teachers who are here now and the new teachers who will be coming next year.

Wang_Wei_and_Jacqui

Wang Wei takes off on tomorrow for Beijing and then a Tuesday flight to the USA. She’ll be gone for almost two months. (Wang Wei and Jacqui Collins)

The students and I will set out early tomorrow morning for Changchun and then fly down to Hong Kong at 9:00. I’ll be away for one week, but plan to post daily blogs from Hong Kong.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. Jn 20:19-31

In all three Liturgical cycles this is the gospel reading for this second Sunday of Easter. 'Doubting Thomas' makes his appearances at this point every year.

Is there anything to be said for doubt? Surely there is. It is a good thing to be able to doubt oneself, provided it doesn't become an addiction that cripples you. To doubt one’s ideas, one’s principles, one’s work, even one's very eyes at times.... It is a proof that your life is not on automatic pilot, that you have not finished thinking and weighing things up. Doubt is not always the opposite of faith; the real opposite of faith is a certain kind of fear. Fear makes you curl up and do nothing, or it makes you run away. Faith pushes you to take chances, to Caravaggio_-_The_Incredulity_of_Saint_Thomas risk yourself, to pit yourself against difficulties. Thomas was a careful man, but he was not a fearful one; he was capable of fearless action: “Let us go to Jerusalem and die with him,” he said (John 11:16). It is not that Thomas lacked faith; he just didn't want to be deluded.

He wanted to "see the holes that the nails made in his hands and put my finger into the holes they made…." He wanted to experience it for himself. The same John who tells this story about Thomas once wrote, "What we have heard, what we have seen with our own eyes, what we have watched and touched with our hands…this is our subject" (1 John 1:1). There is no blame to Thomas for wanting to experience the reality for himself. Isn't it what every disciple of Jesus wants to do?

Thomas was also a thinking man; he always wanted to understand and figure things out. Once when Jesus was speaking obscurely about going away and said, “You know the way to where I am going,” Thomas cut in and said, “Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” It was a practical man’s question, and you can see the puzzled look on his face. It was puzzlement, not doubt. He didn't doubt Jesus or lack trust in him. Well, why was he missing from the group when Jesus appeared? Isn't it very likely that he had gone away by himself to think? It would be entirely in character. We dishonor him when we call him ‘doubting Thomas’. We should call him ‘thinking Thomas’. There is no area of life more subject to delusion than religion. We have to thank Thomas for his distinctive combination of carefulness and courage.

Mary Magdalene was told by the Risen Lord (in the verses just before the beginning of this passage) to "go and find the brothers." Obviously she found them here, in “the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews.” 

Fear had locked them in, but he sent them out: “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” “He breathed on them.” This is seen as an evocation of the creation story in Genesis, where God “breathed into [Adam’s] nostrils the breath of life” (2:7). Jesus' gift of the Spirit makes us a new creation.

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Saturday, April 18, 2009

Quality Over Quantity, Journals and Trip Preparations (April 18, 2009)

The Great Wall of China

It is said that the world is in a state of bankruptcy, that the world owes the world more than the world can pay. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I started the day with the morning walk followed by mass in the chapel. I then came over to the office around 6:30 and have been here for most of the day. I did go over to the dining hall around noontime to have some noodles and a coke and returned again at 7:00 for a late dinner. I went with rice and fish for dinner. The fish was great, but I got one of those little pieces of sand or stone in my rice and it felt like I broke a tooth. Fortunately, I didn’t; it just felt that way.

We didn’t have a big crowd for English Corner last night, but we made up in quality what we lacked in quantity. (The college had a job-interview skills competition at the same time last evening) Jacqui, Kevin and Rad all made it. Jacqui and Kevin came early and had a Jingmei cooked meal before the English Corner got started. Rad ran over (marathon training) and skipped the meal. She ate a bowl of instant noodles in the office during the English Corner. 

I finished correcting the students’ journals shortly after lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon answering emails. (I took an occasional break to put something in my bag for Hong Kong.) I have not yet dug myself out of what is a pretty formidable email hole, but I did make some very significant progress today. Evenings in Hong Kong could provide the time that is needed to actually get caught up. Actually a form letter would be a big help, but then what would the blog be?! 

The Chinese government just released the first quarter economic report for 2009 and the economy here did just about what everyone expected. It grew 6.1 percent which is slower than the 6.8 percent growth reported in the fourth quarter. While these are great numbers in terms of what the rest of the world is doing, they are dangerous numbers here in China. Experts inside and outside the government have long said that the economy needs to sustain growth at or around 7.0 percent to provide the jobs needed to keep social order.

Guangzhou Trade Fair

The domestic economy seems to be holding its own, but like the end of 2008 the problem is with export-oriented factories and their millions of workers. The big Canton Trade Fair in Guangzhou this past week  didn’t bring the big orders many factories were hoping for. 

So far in 2009 Chinese banks are pumping out loans at a record pace to stimulate domestic investment and consumption, and the government is spending heavily on new railroads and other projects. But the big question for the Chinese economy is when overseas demand for Chinese goods will recover.

My Tigers dropped the opening game of the weekend series to Pastor Mitch’s surprising Mariners. Verlander was untouchable through the first four innings and then Seattle was all over him in the fifth and sixth. I didn’t think the Tigers would sweep the Mariners in Seattle, but dropping the opener makes winning the series a little tougher and I did think (predict) the Tigers would do that.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them. Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. Mk 16:9-15

People didn't recognize Jesus very easily when he appeared after his resurrection. Some thought they were seeing a ghost; he showed himself “under another form” to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus; and even Mary Magdalene thought at first that he was the gardener. 

We give supreme authority to bodily sight, as we say, “seeing is believing.” Aristotle said that sight is “our principal source of knowledge.” But this kind of sight was not adequate to recognizing the risen Christ. It requires a seeing from the heart and the spirit, not from the eyes. People who claim today to have seen 6a00d8341c83a053ef0115702885ed970b-320wi apparitions give the impression that they have exceptional faith; but what they are doing is just going back to eyesight and suggesting that this is superior to faith. Religion is always only millimeters away from fantasy and projection; it can be naive beyond words. A woman who claimed to have had a vision of St Joseph was asked how she knew it was St Joseph. “Doesn't everyone know what St Joseph looks like?” she replied. ^_^ 

God is not captured by the eye, or by the mind. “We cannot grasp what God is,” said St Thomas Aquinas. We cannot ‘grasp’ God – neither with our eyesight nor with our minds. God cannot be possessed in the way we possess things; it is the other way around: we are possessed by God; we are grasped by God.

Our faith is a bottomless ocean. How could it be otherwise? St Paul prays that the Ephesians, “knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge… [will be] filled with the utter fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).

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Friday, April 17, 2009

Journals to Correct, Preparing for a Trip and Aaron is in Town. (April 17,2009)

Maryknoll

"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues." - Abraham Lincoln

I was up quite late again last night, but managed to get out of bed early and got in the morning walk, had mass in the chapel and then Jacqui's Goodies came over to have breakfast with the freshmen. Today’s group of freshmen struck it rich in terms of free junk food available in the office. Jacqui cooked up some chocolate cookies as well as some homemade peanut butter and chocolate snacks (they taste just like a Reese Peanut Butter Cup) which went over very well. In fact they were gone by the end of breakfast. I had a few myself and it was definitely a good idea on my part to put those calorie loaded cookies out for the freshmen this morning. They are not what I need at this time of waistline worries!

While on the topic of waistline worries, I had a wonderful time last night with the gang. Rad, Jacqui, Kevin, Li Na, Li Nana, Liu Bo, Wang Wei, Zhang Lei, Mu Xiaolu and Jingmei treated me for a really nice hotpot meal. There were plenty of laughs and loads of reminiscing. We got started at 5:30 and left the restaurant around 8:30.

Today has been pretty much an office day for me. I spent most of the day correcting and grading journals which is going to keep me busy the next few days. I have to hand them back before leaving for Hong Kong on Monday. I also managed to get a few odds and ends that needed to be taken care of while Wang Wei is still here out of the way.

With Jiali

Students were in and out of the office most of the afternoon which sort of slowed down the task of correcting journals. This is going to be a slow weekend on campus, as there are no exams scheduled  until after the May Day break. Kids were in the office this afternoon reading the China Daily and other magazines.

Students in the office

Students hanging out in the office this afternoon.

Freshment getting ready to run

The freshmen lining up to start their daily run below my office window.

Wang Wei was out of the office most of the morning taking care of some stuff related to her trip next week. She has a nasty cold and I really hope she is over that before she takes off to fly across the Pacific. From experience I know that flying with a head cold can be a real bummer.

Here are a few more pictures from the nursing skills competition hosted by the nursing college earlier this week.

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The Judges are a tough bunch!

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P_large_ccAh_47199p206091 Having a girlfriend in the nursing college can be dangerous! ^_^ 

P_large_yc6s_14452l206111 No pain No gain!! ^_^

Aaron is in town for a few days. He was scheduled to come up next week, but came a little earlier to see one of his friends who attempted suicide earlier this week. She fell in love with one of the young Maryknoll teachers (she has fallen in love with many a foreign teacher) and when the teacher told her he was heading home to start graduate school in the fall she got a little depressed and made a scene. She has a history of this stuff, and this is pretty much a case of the padre knows best, but nobody listens to the padre. Anyway, it is a situation that you don’t like to see happening and I definitely don't want the young Maryknoll teachers involved in. Hopefully those making decisions will learn from this one. 

My Tigers had an off day and are back in first place as a result. Well, I should China's Top Tiger Fan say they are in a tie for first place! The season is still early and three teams are bunched together in the standings. Detroit begins their first west coast trip of the 2009 season with a three-game weekend series against Seattle. Pastor Mitch's Mariners are playing great ball so far this season so hopefully the Tigers can bring them back to the real world. The pitching matchups favor the Tigers and that should be the key to this series. I'm not thinking the Tigers will sweep the series (hope they do) but I do expect them to win the series.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the lake. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. Jn 21:1-14

When we are in doubt we return to what we know: the past. When we don’t know where we are going, we turn back. When Jesus was dead his disciples returned to their former way of life: they tried to go back to fishing. But “they caught nothing that night.” Even the past could give them no reassurance; they had nowhere to go. They had no future, they thought, because Jesus was dead; and now they seemed to have no past either. Tragedy and failure drove them into the present moment. It was in that cataclysmic Now that they saw Jesus. The Good News reveals itself in the Now. ‘Now’ is like a bomb thrown through our window, and ticking.... The Resurrection of Jesus is God's new deed.

Can I be said to ‘have’ the faith if I think of it only as an old ideology battling for survival against new? What about that cataclysmic Now that those broken-down disciples had to enter before they could see the Lord? There is a way of appearing very Catholic, and it is to appear very concerned with the past. How could this be the proper emphasis? Our faith is not a form of nostalgia or antiquarianism. We are already too prone to slipping away into the past when the present is too painful. If we follow the same line with our faith, we will not be witnessing to the resurrection of Christ, but only offering one another bland assurances that convince no one, not even ourselves. Unless we experience this ‘dying to oneself’, our words will offer nothing but routes of escape into a reassuring past. 

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Thursday, April 16, 2009

Celebrating My 53rd Birthday with Students and Friends in China (April 16, 2009)

Health Food

I started the day with my morning walk. It was a little warmer walking today than it was yesterday. After the walk I had mass in the chapel and then came over to the office for breakfast with some freshmen.

Breakfast Gang

Today's Breakfast Gang!

The Guys

The guys from the freshmen nursing class stopped by to say hello during breakfast.

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Today is my birthday! If a person ever needed a little affirmation on his birthday Happy Birthday to make him feel special and wanted, then this is the place for him to be. The students have made every part of my day special in one way or another. The birthday song has turned into "The Song that Never Ends.’It has indeed been a special day for me! It is pretty easy being me!!

Birthday Greetings2 

Students singing Happy Birthday!

Birthday Greetings 3

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A collage of their pictures from the freshmen.

I had classes with the freshmen both in the morning and afternoon.This week's lectures and all the makeup lectures are now complete. 

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The lunch gang!

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Cool Movie Club leaders.

Li Hongmei

A nice cactus plant was a gift from Li Hongmei.

Suzy and Mary Jo

A hand-made holder for my school meal card was a gift from Suzy. Mary Jo is on the right.

I am going to head out in a little while for a birthday party with some of my former students along with the young Maryknoll teachers; Rad, Jacqi and Kevin. 

Today’s gospel and some comments: 

Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Lk 24:35-48

“He stood among them.” In John’s gospel we read that they were huddled together, with the doors locked, for fear of the Jews; then he uses the same words as Luke: “Jesus stood among them.” He did not have to fumble with a key, or knock loudly (which would have made them lock the door even more securely) or call out (they would not have believed). He just stood suddenly 6a00d8341c83a053ef011570135916970b-300wi inside the circle of their fear. Left to ourselves we would remain imprisoned forever inside that locked door, and all efforts to bring us out would have the opposite effect. The Risen Lord comes to meet us where we are, comes without violence, without argument or explanation, comes to liberate us into joy.

They had so recently deserted him, but he “stood among them,” and greeted them with peace. Everything in Luke’s account is intended to express the reality of Jesus' presence. By eating he is demonstrating that he is not a ghost. In John's account, Jesus shows his hands and feet to show the marks of the nails, but in Luke's account there is no mention of the wounds. Showing them “his hands and his feet” was intended to show them his physical reality (“flesh and bones” rather than ghostly), but not necessarily the marks of crucifixion. The idiom “flesh and bones” derives from “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” of Genesis 2:23 (Adam so describing Eve), so the reference was to equal and shared humanity.

To say things is easy: just creating a slight disturbance in the air. When we've said a lot of things we have the impression that we've done something, but we've only been breathing in a more complicated way. You can say the earth is 15 billion years old, but what have you said? You can say God made the world, but do you have any idea what you said? A good test of whether you understand something is to get yourself to say it without words – to say it with the body. The body is our first language. The verbal language we speak is shadowy beside it.

Our “flesh and bones” are material of the resurrection. The Russian theologian, Paul Evdokimov, wrote about the ways in which matter and nature (including human nature) are represented in some forms of modern art. We are looking, he said, at a “closed and atheistic world...a world of still life and dead matter which is no longer the substance of the resurrection.” But the Christian faith affirms that this mortal body of ours, because Christ shared our human nature, is destined for things beyond our power to imagine.

The Liturgy says that God "has restored the joy of our youth." Joy is there when you put yourself fully into something. Small children, when they laugh, are all laughter; when they cry they are all sadness. But a little later we learn to drag ourselves along: half-way into things and no more (half in and half out). If you walked like that you would resemble a person 100 years old. We have to learn to go fully into everything we do and say and think: to die into everything. Then we will know something about resurrection.

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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Preparations for Trips to the USA and Hong Kong, Extra Lectures and a Nursing Skills Competition.

Jilin City2

The nearest way to glory is to strive to be what you wish to be thought to be. – Socrates

The day started the usual way. I got in the morning walk (very cold), had mass in the chapel (a little cold) and then came to the office (warm) for breakfast with a group of freshmen.

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Today's group of freshmen were pretty active. The guys were up very early this morning DSCN3327 working out in preparation for a campus sports meet in May. They came in a little late and very hungry and quickly attacked the cookie jar. The girls arrived early and 刘春旸 (Liu Chunyang) pictured here put herself into a position that will be hard to beat for the 2008-2009 Junk Food Junkie Award. (Cookies, sausage, chocolate milk and some candy on top is a formidable diet and one that a normal junkie will have trouble surpassing.) Breakfast with the students each morning is always a lot of fun and it is really amazing how they are willing to put up with the teasing, etc from me at such an early hour. We do have a lot of fun each day. ^_^

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The weather turned cold again yesterday and we got ourselves a slight dusting of snow last night. It made the morning walk a little more interesting, as I've already put away my winter walking suit. This morning I moved at a little quicker pace and did my best to keep warm.

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44° | 32°
 
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60° | 41°
 
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68° | 37°
 
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59° | 37°
 
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69° | 44°
 

The weatherman (was at dinner last night) and he promises a quick return to nicer weather starting tomorrow.

Yesterday was way too hectic and it was close to 1:00 a.m. before I called it a day. I had classes in the morning, followed by the radio show, an afternoon meeting, another class, a radio show meal with a sponsor and an evening IELTS study group. The blog never got started.

Today was more of the same, but I will get this blog posted. ^_^

I had classes all morning and afternoon today. I had to cancel the evening study groups, so I could spend some time with Wang Wei going over details on stuff I should know while she is away for the next seven weeks.

I leave next Monday for Hong Kong and Wang Wei leaves the same day for the USA. I'll be taking a group of 4th year nursing students to Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital for a one week clinical placement. We'll be staying at Maryknoll Stanley for the week. Wang Wei is heading for Michigan and seven weeks in God's Country! She will be escorting one of our nursing teachers, Wang Minghong, who will be studying nursing education at Baker College in Owosso, Michigan.

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This afternoon at 4:00 the nursing college hosted a nursing skills competition in the Sports and Convocation Center here on campus. I ran over to see how things were going, encourage the finalists and get a few pictures for this blog. It was well organized and quite interesting.DSCN3336

Mingli, Brian and Liying

I had a very nice surprise at lunch when Mingli showed up to say hello. I was surprised again later in the afternoon when Liying showed up to say hello and I had both Mingli and Liying with me for a few hours. Mingli, Liying and I go back all the way to 2001 when those two came to live near me in Jilin and begin their high school studies. Liying has finished her studies and is working as nurse her in the city. Mingli will graduate from Changchun University in June. They are both great young ladies and I am really proud of everything that they have accomplished.

Lunch

The lunch crew was a lively one again today.

He Ziyi

Today was He Ziyi’s birthday so she came and joined us for lunch today at the apartment.

Yesterday (April 14th) was the anniversary of the death of one of Founders Maryknoll's founders, Bishop James A. Walsh. A google alert brought my attention to  McNamara' blog (Musings of a Church Historian from Queens, New York) who did a nice piece on Maryknoll and the founders in his blog yesterday. Here is the link for those of you interested in Church History. McNamara's Blog

In two years time (June 2011) Maryknoll will Maryknoll celebrate its 100th anniversary. The priests and brothers of Maryknoll are already looking at different ways to celebrate this big event.

My Tigers lost their game to the White Sox on Monday and as a result of China's Top Tiger Fan that loss, a rainout on Tuesday and a few wins by other teams, Detroit is now in third place in the AL Central. Third place, but only a game out of first place. They will be playing the White Sox this afternoon before heading west and a weekend series against Pastor Mitch's Seattle Mariners.

On a sad note the Tigers lost one of their most charismatic stars of all-The Bird time when former Tiger pitcher Mark (The Bird) Fidrych passed away earlier this week in an accident on his farm. He got the name 'The Bird' because he resembled the Sesame Street character 'Big Bird' back when he was pitching. Tiger fans of my age will never forget Mark's rookie season. Each start was played before a full house at Tiger Stadium and he definitely entertained the crowds.

That is about it for today. It has been a long and extremely busy day!

Today’s gospel and some comments:

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerursalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him….Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. Lk 24:13-35

Two men with heavy hearts, full of regrets and foreboding, going in the wrong direction…. Jesus walks beside them and talks with them but they are unable to recognize him.  This story is an image of the life of the Church.  What we have in today’s reading is an example of how Christians should read the Scriptures.  The Lord is with them even though they are unaware. He teases out their fears and doubts and disillusionment.... He calls their attention to what they had overlooked or misunderstood.  Finally they “recognize him in the breaking of bread.”  This is a phrase that Luke repeats, as if to make sure we notice it.  Throughout, the language is Eucharistic, the same that he had used a few chapters earlier in describing the Last Supper. That phrase, “the breaking of bread”, is used repeatedly in the Acts of the Apostles (also written by Luke) to refer to the ritual meal of the Christian community, Christ of Maryknoll Icon the Eucharist. Disciples in every century have continued to recognize him in “the breaking of bread.” 

About five years later, Paul, the persecutor of Christians, was to have his strange experience.  On the road to Damascus he was thrown to the ground and he heard a voice, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?  I am Jesus whom you are persecuting”.  Jesus, then, is still beside his followers. He is only dimly recognized and by few.  “You were with me,” wrote St. Augustine some centuries later, “but I was not with you” (Confessions, X, 27).  But we are able to recognize him in the breaking of bread.


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Monday, April 13, 2009

My Tigers are on Top of the AL Central ( April 13, 2009)

Maryknoll

It's surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you're not comfortable within yourself, you can't be comfortable with others. - Sydney J. Harris

It was a beautiful early morning for walking and walk I did. I started the day with my morning walk, had mass in the chapel and then breakfast with a lively group of freshmen. 

DSCN3311

While I was having breakfast with the freshmen the sky opened up and we had ourselves a nasty day here in Jilin.

Barrons_PhotoI had a surprise call from Mom and Dad this morning. They both sounded great and they said that they are feeling good. The whole family was together for an Easter brunch at my sister’s home. My nephew Matt is still a bit under-the-weather and that is definitely a bummer. My Uncle Ed is still hospitalized and has had a tough few weeks with some stomach/intestinal problems on top of his broken leg. Keep both Matt and Ed in your prayers. (The picture above was taken at the last family gathering in February)

I had the third year nursing students for class this morning. I will be seeing a lot of them this week, as I have two scheduled lectures with them and I am also going to give them two additional lectures to cover classes I will miss while I’m in Hong Kong next week. Needless to say they are thrilled!! ^_^

The students who I will be taking to Hong Kong next week for their clinical placement at Our Lady of Maryknoll hospital met with me at 5:00 today to go over the basics for the trip. They are pretty excited about this trip and I’m sure we are going to have a great time. We fly to Hong Kong next Monday and return the following Monday (April 27th). 

IELTS STUDY GROUP 2  

I had two IELTS study groups this evening. The students are doing well and everyone seems to be making progress which is the important thing. A few of the students are planning to take the exam in June, but the majority of them are looking towards the end of 2009 as a most likely test time. They are therefore looking very good at this point. 

My hometown newspaper, The Lansing State Journal ran a front page story in  yesterday's paper on the final Easter mass at my home parish. The diocese is closing Fr. Hayes at Holy Cross Holy Cross on June 20th due to a shortage of priests back in the US. Holy Cross opened back in 1924 and has played a huge role in the history of Lansing’s Westside. I found out the parish was closing when I went to see the pastor, Fr. Hayes, (in picture) to plan for a mass to celebrate my 25th anniversary of ordination this summer. When I go home for that celebration in August I will be having the mass at the parish that my parents will be joining after Holy Cross closes. Of course it will be great to celebrate with my family and friends, but it just won't be the same being at another parish.

My Tigers are sitting on top of the AL Central for the first time in a long time (yes it is only six games into a long season but who cares) and it feels great. We went through the entire 2008 season without spending a day on top of the standings, so there is reason to celebrate, albeit a small reason. They took out their brooms China's Top Tiger Fan and swept the Texas Rangers over the weekend. Last night they trailed by four going into the bottom of the eighth and came away with a 6-4 win.

The Chicago White Sox are coming to town for a three-game series beginning this afternoon at Comerica Park. (All three games are afternoon affairs.) The pitching matchups seem to favor the White Sox, but the Tigers are hitting the ball this season, in the way that everyone thought they would last season and when they are hitting like this they are one of baseballs best teams.

The NY Times had an article in its Saturday edition that talks about a brain drain occurring on Wall Street (that surely must be a misnomer) as some key players are leaving their banks as the big bonuses dry up. I for one am not too worried about this so-called Wall Street Brain Drain! But then again maybe I should be worried about where these so-called brains end up. According to the article: “Sensing a shifting tide, talented bankers who fear a dimmer future at banks that have taken taxpayer money are migrating to brash boutique firms, which are intent on proving their critics wrong by chasing fast profits and growth in hopes of one day rising up as challengers to the old guard.” It seems to me that we need some legislation and we need it quick to regulate what is happening on Wall Street and especially with these new “brash boutique firms” that are being guided by the brains of Wall Street past.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’ While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, ‘You must say, “His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.” If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’ So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day. Mt 28:8-15 

In a culture that did not accept as valid the testimony of women, it is remarkable that the four gospels did not hesitate to make Mary Magdalene’s the first testimony of the resurrection of Jesus.

The chief priests and the Jewish authorities also had a 'first': they were the first to give an explanation of the empty tomb. They would be followed by a cloud of theologians throughout the centuries who have tried to explain everything in the Faith. To explain is to explain away, because our explanations never do justice to reality. The word ‘explain’ comes from Latin and means ' to flatten out'. A mystery flattened out is only a theory at best. Perhaps it will be especially through the testimony of women that the mysteries will become mysteries again.

Alleluia is our word in the Easter season: sung, played and said over and over again. It is a cry of exultation. The joy of Easter is a deep joy that is not tied to any passing event but only to the resurrection of Jesus – and our rising with him.

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Sunday, April 12, 2009

HAPPY EASTER (April 12, 2009)

Believe

If there were no God, there would be no Atheists. - G.K. Chesterton
 
 
Prayer for Easter
 
With fear and trembling
We approach the grave of our shattered dreams.
Who will roll back the stone of ignorance?
O God, the tomb is empty!
What can this mean? Who has done this?
Where is the One in whom alone our hearts find rest?
Tears blur Mary Magdalene's vision.
Sorrow closes her mind to the miracle
Standing as a stranger before her.
Speak, O Risen Lord, our name,
Like you once spoke Mary's to her
When all creation gasped
As eternal darkness bowed to everlasting dawn.
Amen, alleluia!

~ Father Joseph Veneroso, M.M.

  

I just got back from the parish. I had a great night and an even better morning. I’m going to have Easter breakfast with some students, take care of a few things here in the office and then head off for the restaurant and my Easter Lunch with some colleagues.

I want to wish all of you wherever you are a very BLESSED and HAPPY EASTER!!

Today’s gospel and some comments:

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. John 20:1-9

Echoing an ancient homily, Meister Eckhart said that it was because Mary For Easter Sunday Magdalene had nothing else to lose that she dared approach the grave; the apostles had run away because, by implication, they were still trying to save themselves. She had lost everything else, he said, "and so she was afraid that if she went away from the grave she would lose the grave as well. For if she had lost the grave she would have nothing left at all."

But of what use was that grave to her? Graves are about the past. But not this grave. The Resurrection did not take place on the mountain-tops, or on a bright cloud, but in the heart of the grave, the 'degree zero' of human life. It was because Mary Magdalene stayed by the grave that she became the first bearer of the news of the Resurrection; she was the first Christian preacher. 

At first she could not see Jesus anywhere. Why? Because she kept looking further away than he was. She kept looking for a dead body, an object; but Jesus was alive and standing beside her. We are at home with objects; they are at arm's length and we can deal with them. We make this kind of knowledge-at-arm's-length the standard of all knowledge; we equate 'objectivity' with truth. The word 'object' comes from Latin ob (against) + jacere (to throw). Besides, the word 'object' connotes 'objection' rather than faith. But the Risen Christ is nearer to us than any object could ever be. "Why are you seeking the living among the dead?" (Luke 24:5).

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Saturday, April 11, 2009

Holy Saturday (April 11, 2009)

Alicia's Fight

Keep Felicia and her fight with breast cancer in your prayers!

So there he is at last. Man on the moon. The poor magnificent bungler! He can't even get to the office without undergoing the agonies of the damned, but give him a little metal, a few chemicals, some wire and twenty or thirty billion dollars and, vroom! There he is, up on a rock a quarter of a million miles up in the sky. - Russell Wayne Baker

I was up early this morning and started the day with my morning walk. I then spent some quiet time in the chapel before coming to the office. It has been mostly an office day.

I was up late last night as I didn't end the day until well after 1:00. I fell asleep pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow and felt well rested when I got up to walk a few hours later. I find myself needing less sleep these days. It can't be a bad thing as I am never sleepy during the day.

Today was kind of 'Student Organizations' day and as a result the office was quiet Correcting papers for most of the morning and a good part of the afternoon. I have finished  all but a few of the in-class writing assignments my freshmen did yesterday (I will finishe the rest before I leave) and I also managed to make it out to the sports field to bother some students who were taking part in student activities. That was a lot of fun as the students were really having a good time and were in a very relaxed mood. The weatherman also cooperated to make it an almost perfect day. 

Take that!!

While walking around, I gave a few pointers to the Taekwondo Club. Note the excellent form.

Don't mess with Black belts!!

Guys who wear the black belt don't need pointers and it is a good idea not to mess with them in general.

With Li Yu

Li Yu (with me above) is a first year student majoring in preventive medicine. She is also a black belt in Taekwondo. But, she doesn't scare me!

Going Down

The various races were fun to watch and the real challenge was to stay on your feet.

Cool Movie Club

The Cool Movie Club (I'm their faculty advisor) had a great day getting a number of first place finishes.

Control Central

The student leaders manned the control desk adding up points to see which club/organization would come out on top.

They all seemed to have a good time. I believe there are 28 registered student organizations on campus. (I’m not sure about that number as it seems a little small, but it comes immediately to mind.) Some of them are involved in community service like the Love Supermarket and Red Cross while others are cultural, sports or medical groups. They all meet regularly and have a lot of fun doing whatever it is that they do.

Last night I had a great time with the Love Supermarket volunteers. We started at 6:00 and continued until around 8:00. Below are a few photos of the volunteers and me.

Brian and JiDanBrian and Ji Dan.

Brian and student

Some of the Love Supermarket volunteers

They are really doing great and I was very impressed with how well  organized they are. Their work and organizational setup is very similar to that of theBrian Helps students make a poster Society of St. Vincent DePaul. They basically have organized themselves in work units/cells and while they are all members of the same group they identify more closely with the smaller work unit that they belong to. I had a lot of fun and it was in my opinion a great way to spend a Good Friday evening.

I will head to the parish tonight for the Easter Vigil and then plan to celebrate Easter mass tomorrow morning.

I’m looking forward to my annual Easter party tomorrow. I will be celebrating with a number of good friends and I’m looking forward to that. Attending this year’s Easter banquet will be mostly colleagues from here at the medical college. Of course, Wang Wei, her mother and Jingmei will also be there.

I talked with Mingli this morning and both her and Liying and their boyfriends (fiancés) are going to stop by on Tuesday (or Thursday) to say hello. That will be great. It is hard to believe that eight years have passed since those two started high school here in Jilin (吉林二中). Liying is now working as a nurse and Mingli will graduate from Changchun University in June. They are both planning 2009 weddings.

There is an good OP-ED piece in a recent issue of America magazine written by John Faith Quinn, the retired archbishop of San Francisco. Quinn makes a good argument for why The University of Notre Dame should not rescind their invitation to have President Barack Obama give the 2009 Commencement address. If you have any interest in this crazy situation I would suggest reading that OP-Ed piece.

One problem that I have with all of this, is that once again Notre Dame somehow comes across as being Catholicism is confusing America's representative Catholic college. In the glory days of their Fighting Irish football teams they did have a certain amount of respect from the so-called subway alumni. Those days, however, are long gone and today when most Americans talk about Catholic colleges, Notre Dame is simply one among many. To say that today they are America's representative Catholic college couldn't be farther from the truth. They are just one among many and with huge catholic student populations on many state university campuses, I would in fact present both Michigan and Michigan State (and their Catholic communities) as schools that  represent American Catholicism more so than Notre Dame. The Holy Cross Fathers would be shocked to hear that, but they shouldn't be. You can take it for what it is worth as I am definitely no expert! ^_^

Another picture of Oz!

Follow the Yellow Brick Road!!

"Follow the Yellow Brick Road."

My Tigers went ballistic on the Texas Rangers and won their home opener by a China's Top Tiger Fan score of 15-2. The Tigers' bats were hot and they got some more good starting pitching. They are now 2-3 and have a chance to get back to .500 ball with a win today. This is one of those weekends where it is not easy being the Tigers as all eyes are on another Tiger. Tiger Woods is seven back heading into the final two rounds of the Masters. For Tiger Woods that position could be described as 'right where he wants to be.'

Some Holy Saturday comments:

Jesus was silent before Pilate, and now he is silent in death. History doesn’t record silence, only disturbance. Today, of all days, the Christian heart feels the darkness of the world and its loss of meaning, and it allows itself to look at the darkness in itself and experience the silence. George Steiner, among others, remarked that our world today is a kind of prolonged Holy Saturday: the age between Friday and Sunday, between defeat and hope.

When Jesus was crucified, only the women came near. The apostles had fled into hiding. If he were being enthroned they would all be there, jockeying for position. But the women came to his tomb. He had nothing to give them, but they came near. Only the heart comes near.

There is no Eucharist on Holy Saturday. It is the only day of the year when Mass is not celebrated. The altars are stripped bare, tabernacles lie open and empty – an extraordinarily powerful symbol for Catholics. The whole Church is one with Christ in his death. It is necessary to experience this. We have to allow ourselves to experience sadness and loss. The Liturgy is a wise teacher. 

However, popular devotion immediately negates the power of the empty tabernacle by setting up an altar of repose, much more elaborately decorated with flowers and candles than the high altar. We find it hard to live even for a day with anything that seems like emptiness.

The emptiness and darkness that we have allowed ourselves to feel will help us to see the light of Easter all the more brightly. In the darkness we rise for the Easter Vigil. Against a black sky we light the Easter fire. But this would be a forlorn gesture if Christ were not risen from the dead! Suddenly the Paschal candle is alight. Lumen Christi! – the light of Christ lightens our darkness. Exultet! – “Exult, all creation...! Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor, radiant in the brightness of your King.... Darkness vanishes forever...! Let this place resound with joy, echoing the mighty song of all God's people!”

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Friday, April 10, 2009

Good Friday (April 10, 2009)

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. – Confucius

I started the day with my walk and then made a holy hour in the chapel before Goodfriday coming over to the office to have breakfast with the freshmen. There was a pretty active group present for breakfast today; after we finished breakfast we walked together to the lecture hall for a full morning of writing classes (how appropriate on this day) from 8:00 till 11:40. We did back to back lectures in order to make up for a class that I will miss while I am in Hong Kong with the 4th year students the week after next. It was a little much for the kids and something I probably won’t repeat in the future.

I took sometime around noon to go down to the parish for the Good Friday Service and then came back to the office to go over a few talks I will be giving next month.

This evening I’m going to take part in a training session for new volunteers of the Love Supermarket (a student run St. Vincent DePaul-like organization) which should last for about two hours. The Love Supermarket is a great young organization (founded about a year ago) made up of students who do work on and off campus to help needy students and the underprivileged in the community. They do their own fundraising (on and off campus) and rely on fellow students, faculty and staff of the medical college to help them in whatever ways possible. They started off with the 5 founders and now have over 150 volunteers working together in 8 different units or cells! Great stuff!!

The Passionof our Lord according to John and some comments: 

If you took time to read the passion story according to John (above link) then you know that the last words that Jesus said on the cross before he bowed his head and gave up the spirit is "It is finished" (John 19:30). Three words in English but in the original Greek it is just one word, tetelestai. What does telestai "it is finished" mean?

Scholars got more insight into the meaning of this expression a few years ago after some archaeologists dug up in the Holy Land a tax collector's office that Good Friday Icon was almost intact, with all the tax records and everything. There were two stacks of tax records and one of them had the word, tetelestai, on the top. In other words, "paid in full." These people don't owe anything anymore. So, when Jesus said "It is finished," what is finished? It is the debt we owe God by our sins. It has been paid in full?

The Jews of Jesus' time saw sin as a debt that we owe God, a debt that must somehow be repaid. Jesus used that kind of language and often spoke of sin as debt and forgiveness as a cancellation of debt. He told the parable of the unforgiving servant whom his master forgave the debt that he had no way of repaying but who went out and insisted on getting back the small debt that his fellow servant owed him. This was a way of teaching us that when we are forgiven by God we must in turn forgive our neighbor. He taught us to pray "Forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are indebted to us" which simply means "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Jesus clearly used the language of commerce to speak of the spiritual relationship between God and us and between us and our neighbor. So on the cross he says telestai "It is paid in full." Our sins have been completely forgiven. It is finished.

So, how do we respond to this last testament of Jesus? Remember, it is not a promise, "Your sins will be forgiven," and it is not a conditional statement, "Your sins are forgiven if...." How do we respond to it? What do we do? All you have to do is to say "Amen ... So be it." All you have to do is to believe that these words apply to you personally, no matter the gravity of the sin that you have been involved in. Your debt has been paid to the full and cancelled no matter how huge the amount you owe. All you have to do is to say "Thank you, Jesus" and learn to be grateful to Jesus all your life. That is why we go to church every Sunday. We go to church to perform the Eucharist which means "thanksgiving". That is why we try to be loving and kind to others. If Jesus has been so loving and kind to me in such a big way, why can't I try to be loving and kind to others in the little things of everyday life. That is why we try to avoid sin. If Jesus has paid all the debt that I owe to God, I must see to it that I do not go about accumulating more debt.

 As we look up to the cross today and contemplate Jesus dying to make the full payment for our sins, let us thank him, and let us promise him that our whole lives will be one unbroken song of thanksgiving to him who gave his life to make full payment for the immeasurable debt we owe to God.

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Thursday, April 09, 2009

Holy Thursday (April 9, 2009)

The Last Supper 1

"Do this in memory of me."

I started off this Holy Thursday with my morning walk and then spent a little time in the chapel before heading over to the office to have breakfast with the students. 

The Milk Tea Girl

It was another busy day as I had classes all morning and part of the afternoon today. I went back to the apartment to have lunch with the students and we got some milk tea on the way back. Actually starting yesterday some of the students are switching to milk shakes instead of milk tea. Both taste great after a nice Jingmei cooked meal. In the picture above is our Milk Tea Girl and below is today's lunch crew. ^_^

Lunch Crew

Liu Bo was on campus today. She showed up this morning and attended my class with the third year nursing students and then hung around for lunch and the afternoon classes. She is doing well and keeping herself busy preparing for an exam that she will be taking in October. It is always good to see Liu Bo.

Wang Wei, Rad and Liu Bo

Wang Wei, Rad and Liu Bo enjoying some pineapple on a stick.

Rad also stopped by, as she wanted to lodge an official complaint about the way her alma mater was treated in a blog earlier this week. How did a nice kid like Rad end up at Notre Dame? I guess anywhere is better than Jersey! ^_^ She is doing well and stopped by in the middle of one of her marathon training workouts to say hello and complain. She will be running in the GREAT WALL marathon later this month.

My Tigers finally got in the win column with a win last night against Toronto. My Tigers Miguel Cabrera did the damage for Detroit with a three-run homer in the first and a fifth inning blast that hit the restaurant in center-field at Rogers Rodney gets save Centre. The win was a relief for us Tiger fans as the Tigers were beaten 12-5 on opening day and then dropped a tough 5-4 decision Tuesday in a game they led 3-0 through seven innings. A win this afternoon would be great and would send the Tigers back to Detroit for their home opener with a .500 record. Anyway, Tiger fans are happy with the first win of the season,even if it did take three games to get it. We remember well that last year it took us 7 games to get the first win and we never recovered. So the Tigers are now in the win column and if we can get 89 more that will probably be enough to win the division (maybe not) and make this guy happy.

The weather has been really great this week. It definitely feels like spring which of WWW course everyone in the northeast of China has been waiting for. I went out to stretch my legs yesterday with Wang Wei and I  took a few pictures while we were walking. Wang Wei’s outfit gives you are good idea of how nice the weather has been these days. Today's high temperature was 27 and the weatherman says there are some prettty nice days ahead, too. We are scheduled to get some rain on Easter, but not too much. Jiliners are more than happy to see rain in April as it is a lot easier to handle at this time of year than snow!!

mostlysunny
27° | 5°
 
cloudy
22° | 6°
 
chancerain
19° | 6°
 
chancerain
23° | 7°
 
sunny
24° | 3°
 

The past year or so has seen a lot of construction in the area surrounding our campus. I took a few pictures today of some of that construction to give you a little progress report. 

New Buildings 1To the north of the campus a new apartment high-rise is just being completed.

New Buildings2

To the east of the campus a new office building has been completed and is now open. 

New Buildings3

To the south of the campus we have a Chinese version of Oz  going up. The wonderful wizard might not live here, but this huge apartment complex is something to behold. It is built on the banks of the Songhua River and is scheduled for completion at the end of this year.

Library Construction2

Here is a picture of the new medical library construction site with Oz in the background.

I have a study group later this evening, so I'll post this blog and get busy with some preparations for that group.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus said to him, ‘One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.’ For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’ After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Jn 13:1-15

St Augustine had a profound sense of humility. The three essentials of any spiritual life, he once said, are humility and humility and humility. Predictably he is moved by Jesus’ washing the disciples’ feet. “It is he into whose hands the Father had given all things, who now washes the disciples’ feet: and it was precisely while knowing that ‘he had come from God, and was going to God,’ that he performed this task of a servant – a servant to human beings.” ++++ And yet Augustine feels he has to twist the words around so that in the washing of the feet, Peter should come first! “[The text] says ‘Then he came to Simon Peter,’ as if he had already washed the feet of some of the others... But who can fail to know that the most blessed Peter was the first of the apostles? So we are not to understand that Jesus washed some others first. Instead he began with Peter.”

It seems to say that while it is all right for Jesus to make himself least of all, it would not be right for Peter. It’s a curious contradiction, and the first of many silly claims to precedence in religious circles. There’s a kind of humility that is 'official' but not real-as when people used to sign letters 'Your humble servant...'

The astounding thing, commemorated in today’s Liturgy, is that Jesus was genuinely humble; he wasn't just going through the motions. His washing their feet was in keeping with his whole life. He had lined up with sinners for John’s baptism of repentance. Yet John’s gospel doesn't show him being baptized by  John the Baptist, nor of course does it show him lining up for such a baptism. Instead, he is said to be just "walking by." This is in keeping with the image of Jesus in the fourth gospel: he is walking above the ground rather than on it. This, even though the immortal words “The Word became flesh and lived among us” are from this gospel. It is hard to follow something through to the very end. Jesus “loved [the disciples] to the end” (today’s reading). Why conceal the fact that he was also humble to the end? The two go together.

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Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Wednesday in Holy Week (April 8, 2009)

A Happy Kid    

A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do you know that his future will not be equal to our present? – Confucius 

I got up early and walked, had mass in the chapel followed by breakfast in the office with a group of freshmen.

DSCN3121We had a very interesting discussion during breakfast today. Looking to the future I asked the freshmen where they see themselves working after they DSCN3120 graduate from college in a five years (That is a good ways ahead for all of them) and they all planning to live in big cities. Not one of them has any interest in living or working in a rural area or small town. These kids are very honest and their hopes and dreams for the future are similar to those of most Chinese college students. The challenge for the government here is to attract, recruit or assign some of the talented young doctors, nurses, teachers, etc. to work in the countryside. China is not the first country to face this problem, but they are soon going to be the first developing country to have and aged population and that makes the challenge a little different from other countries.

I had classes both in the morning and afternoon today and then had two study groups this evening, so there was little time for anything else. Wang Wei was in and out of the office most of the day taking care of a bunch of stuff for me.

I had a surprise email this morning from Chris Ptak (Chris taught here with me as part of the Maryknoll volunteer program) that contained the good news that he will be coming to Jilin for a visit at the beginning of next month.

Last night I stopped by the nursing labs where a good number of students were practicing the art of giving shots. The third year students have been having quite a few tests these days in their fundamental nursing classes and this week and last the tests deal with injections of all sorts. The kids are always happy to see me in the labs and we had some fun while I was there last night. Here are a few pictures from last night:

Nursing Students Jilin Medical College

Nursing students.

In the nursing labs

In the nursing lab turning down a request to donate my body to science!

Brian demonstrating the proper way to give a shot

Demonstrating how to properly give a shot.

  Nursing Students Jilin Medical College2

Students practicing procedures.

Third Year Nursing Students

Third year nursing students.

Helping a partner

Giving a classmate a hand.

Owen preparing an injection

The classmate.  Would you trust this guy with your hand? ^_^

My Tigers are making the start of this season pretty painful. The took a three-run My Tigers lead into the bottom of the eigth last night and ended up losing to the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4. The bullpen was the culprit last night as the rookie Jackson pitched one hit ball into the eighth. The Tigers are now 0-2 to start the season for the second year in a row.

I need to go over a few lectures, upcoming radio shows and finish this blog before heading home to hit the sack. It has been a long and busy day.

Today’s gospel and some comments: 

Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I betray him to you?’ They paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him. On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, “The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.”’ So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal. When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; and while they were eating, he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, ‘Surely not I, Lord?’ He answered, ‘The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.’ Judas, who betrayed him, said, ‘Surely not I, Rabbi?’ He replied, ‘You have said so.’ Mt 26:14-25 

This day is sometimes called 'spy Wednesday', a reminder of Judas’s betrayal of Jesus to the Sanhedrin. Holy Week is under way, with its riveting story of betrayal, suffering, death, and finally resurrection.

Everyone discovers the reality of suffering soon enough, but its meaning takes longer to discover. Popular culture does not reveal that meaning to us; in fact it goes far to make it invisible. It creates a vast dream of comfort, satisfaction and security that couldn't possibly be true to actual experience. Even when the media show us gruesome pictures of human suffering (plenty of that these days), these are quickly followed by ads for sportswear, faster cars and alcohol. The images thereby lose their power, and there is an unspoken assumption that it is all right to pass suffering by.

But this week it is not possible to pass it by. It unfolds before us, with its questions, its power to challenge and uproot. We have to ask: Why suffering? Am I supposed to think that it's good for me? And why do we celebrate and glorify the suffering of Christ, instead of deploring it? What meaning does it have? 

Nobody will ever be satisfied with a quick answer; suffering is too close to us for book¬ answers. Suffering is a different kind of 'knowing'. "People who have not suffered, what do they know?" said Henry Suso, a man who suffered more than most in a century (the 14th) that suffered more than most. Here is his statement in context: "There is nothing more painful than suffering, and nothing more joyful than to have suffered. Suffering is short pain and long joy. Suffering has this effect on the one to whom suffering is suffering, that it ceases to be suffering. Suffering makes a wise and practiced person. People who have not suffered, what do they know...? All the saints are the cup-bearers of a suffering person, for they have all tasted it once themselves, and they cry out with one voice that it is free from poison and a wholesome drink."

'The one to whom suffering is suffering.' He was being precise about this. To many who suffer, suffering isn't suffering as such, but misery and anguish and rejection of suffering. The word 'to suffer' in English means 'to allow', whereas the word 'anguish' comes from the Latin 'ang(u)ere', which means 'to choke'. Suffering, Suso persuades us, is "a wholesome drink." We should not choke on it. The saints have tasted it before handing us the cup; they are the proof that it is not poison.

Have you ever met anyone who never suffered? What would such a person be like? He would have no depth, no growth, no awareness; he would be absolutely juvenile. Imagine parents who protected their child from everything! God's mercy did not protect Jesus from suffering, nor Mary, nor any of his disciples through the ages. We cannot expect that it will protect us. It would be protecting us from life, and that would be no mercy. 

This 'knowledge' of the meaning of suffering is not book-knowledge or factual knowledge; it is experience that continues day by day and is never finished. It is not the kind of knowledge that gives us security and control (which would be a kind of closing-down) but which opens us up to experience, to new life.

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Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Big Brother Runs into a Great Wall....MSU Falls to UNC

The Great Wall of China  

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." - Theodore Hesburgh

I was up late last night and as a result I got my day started a little later than usual today. I started the day with mass in the chapel and then came to the office for breakfast with some freshmen.  The freshmen enjoyed their long weekend and were really happy with the great weather we had; their only complaint was that three days is a little too short.

I had a busy and long day. I had the third year nursing students for class in the morning, lunch with a group of sophomores, then worked with the postgraduate/residency candidates in the afternoon. I have an English study group of nursing students this evening.

This week and next will be loaded for me in terms of teaching hours, as I need to make up for some classes that I will miss when I take a group of nursing DSCN3096 students to Hong Kong on April 20th. I met today with student reps for all the classes and I have a new schedule in place for this week and next. With a little help from Wang Wei for a lecture on the use of idioms and a writing presentation I will be ok.

I hate to rearrange classes like this as it also throws the students schedule into chaos. There isn't much choice in this situation, so we try and make the best out of it.

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Outside the apartment.

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Waiting to order some milk tea!

I had a nice chat with my parents last night and they with all of Michigan were getting ready for the big basketball game. I guess Detroit was expecting a few inches of snow which isn't too unusual for Michigan in April. Anyway, they are both sounded good and said they are doing well. They have my sister, Marcia's dog Benji with them this week as Marcia, Steve and Matt are vacationing in Alabama.

Spartan Fans

The morning class kept me from listening to the NCAA championship game in Detroit, which was kind of a bummer. The result of the game was kind of a bummer, too. The Spartans had a great run, it just ended the wrong way. UNC gave MSU another beating and it looks like the best team won.

They have definitely pushed themselves into Big Brother status in the state of Michigan. The football Spartans are back and the basketball Spartans have now become one of the elite college programs in the US.

The Spartans loss in the finals dropped my bracket from the top one percent to a still respectable, but nothing to brag about, top twenty percent. I guess a lot of folks had UNC winning it all.

Campus

The medical college broke ground for the new medical library and with the weather getting warmer the  New library 1heavy machinery will be arriving soon. The library is scheduled for completion in New library22010 (I think) and will be a wonderful addition to the college. The library will be located on the southern most part of the campus (see map above) and after it is completed the main portion of our college’s construction will be just about complete.

 DSCN3094

Wang Wei was out of the office all morning taking care of some stuff for the medical college and was quite busy this afternoon giving a few medical students a hand with some medical English.

The opening quote on today’s blog comes from the former president (president emeritus) of Notre Dame. Students at ND are protesting these days over the0013729e451809a89ac812 choice of President Obama as the commencement speaker for this year’s graduation. President Obama has done quite well in his first 100 days or so in office, accepting the invitation to speak at Notre Dame was in my opinion one of his few mistakes. The president is an eloquent speaker so he will probably have to speak down to the audience at ND, otherwise most of his wisdom will go over their heads! Maybe the administration at Notre Dame can get former president Bush to come and speak. He isn't quite as eloquent as President Obama (which would be a good match for the Irish students), but he likes to play, just as the cadets at the Air Force Academy  ^_^

IMG_0185

I had a nice email from Lu Ying. Her, Mike and the girls (Joy Elizabeth and Olivia) are all doing well and IMG_0194the girls are going to be baptized on April 19th by their father. Mike is the new pastor at the Lutheran parish in Petersburg, Alaska and Sue is enjoying being a pastor's wife and stay home mom. I have talked to Sue on the phone a few times this year and she is doing great. Her English is doing great, too!  Sue was nice enough to send a few pictures of the girls which I’m sharing with my readers. The girls definitely got their mom's good looks. I do hope that on a trip home to the US or on a trip back to China in the near future I will be able to stop in Alaska and see Sue, Mike, Joy Elizabeth and Olivia.  

My Tigers started their season on the wrong foot with a 12-5 loss to the Toronto My Tigers Blue Jays in Toronto. Jason Verlander got rocked early and often giving up 8 earned runs in less than four innings. I would like to see the Tigers leave Toronto with a series win, but will be more than happy with a split now that they have lost the first game. We opened last season by losing the first seven games, so just about any scenario for opening this season is going to look better than last year.

Pollution in China

The global economic slowdown is starting to have a positive impact on one important aspect of life here in the Middle Kingdom. The air quality is getting Air pollution better almost everywhere. With factories closing or reducing shifts the demand for coal-powered energy that has fed China’s rapid growth but turned it into one of the world's most polluted nations has also been greatly reduced. Former students who are working in many different parts of China are all reporting the same thing and they of course are quite happy about it. Unfortunately it is not a long term solution, but it may give leaders pause to think of what can be done in terms of cleaner energy for the future. I really hope that will be the case.

Today’s gospel and some comments: 

After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, ‘Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘Do quickly what you are going to do.’ Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival’; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterwards.’ Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times. Jn 13:21-33, 36-38

Judas is mentioned constantly in the readings this week. In fact he is mentioned in the gospels far more often than some of the Twelve! He was a man who imposed his will and was unwilling to wait. John places himself as near to Jesus as he places Judas away. Such dualism is characteristic of John’s gospel: light/darkness, above/below, etc. John is “reclining near Jesus,” whispering to him; but Judas goes out, and “it was night.”

But notice that there are two betrayers in this reading; the other is Peter. Jesus said to him, “The cock will not crow before you have denied me three times” (in other words, before morning). But Peter had the courage (or perhaps the opposite) to wait for forgiveness; and he was forgiven. Tragically, Judas didn’t wait; he too would have been forgiven. If he was just greedy for money he should have been happy; but instead he was plunged into despair; he must have had some plan that went wrong – some plan to speed things up. It was typical of him, then, not to wait. In a tragic twisted way he died for his Master. Without doubt, God the Father, “slow to anger and rich in mercy,” had pity on him.

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Monday, April 06, 2009

Monday in Holy Week (April 6, 2009)

DSCN3077

My life is an indivisible whole, and all my attitudes run into one another; and they all have their rise in my insatiable love for mankind. - Mohandas K. Mahatma Gandhi

It has been another nice day here in Jilin City and I started it off with a little later than usual morning walk. Some of the students wanted to join me for the walk today, so I waited till their dorms opened at 5:00 before setting off. I didn’t finish the walk as quickly as usual as some of my co-walkers were moving pretty slowly when we got to the home stretch. ^_^

I spent the entire morning and a good part of the afternoon in the office correcting journals and papers, prepping lectures and also helping the postgraduate/residency candidates with some mock interviews. Wang Wei was in again today to give me a hand with a number of tasks.

I have been in the office each day of the three-day weekend and probably haven’t been alone for more than an hour all together. Students have been in and out, hanging out and stopping by for snacks all weekend. Today a number of the third year students stopped by and harassed me until I moved from my desk to the sofa and listened to their shopping stories! ^_^ It is not easy being me!!! 

Classes begin again tomorrow morning and the next two weeks are going to be quite busy. I need to make up some lectures that I will miss when I take some nursing students to Hong Kong later this month for a clinical placement and I also need to get a bunch of stuff done with Wang Wei before she leaves for Baker College.

Map

The world's most dangerous nation led by the world's craziest leader: the Democratic North Korean Missile launch People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said on Sunday it launched a satellite into orbit and that the satellite was circling the Earth "transmitting songs".  China and the US said it had failed to enter orbit and landed (fell) somewhere in the pacific and was not transmitting songs, but rather was blowing bubbles. ^_^

The DPRK (North Korea) is a nation that cannot feed itself (there are about 200,00 refugees in China) oppresses its people and is led by a sick individual who has absolute power. The world community should take very seriously this guy's efforts to combine nuclear weapons with long range missiles. It is not going to be easy to isolate North Korea more than it is already isolated, but I think something definitely has to be done.

The problem as I see it, is that the failed launch will lead some to simply dismiss North Korea as a nation that wants to be considered dangerous, but isn't. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Little Brother meets UNC

Little brother and North Carolina go at it tonight in Detroit for the NCAA hoops title. My bracket has the MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS  winning it all and I’m still pretty confident that they will do it. It should be a real spectacle at Ford Field tonight and I hope my family and friends who will be attending have a great time. 

They had 72,000 plus for the semi-finals and 55,000 of them were wearing green. The game tonight is going to be played in a sea of green and the Spartan fans should have Ford Field rockin for sure. My prediction for the championship game is: MSU 82 UNC 76. 

Mitch Albom has a great column in Sunday's Detroit Free Press :Pride not pity should be Detroit's Final Four Legacy is well worth reading.  Here is a little taste to wet your appetites.

Because this bash Motown is hosting is not meant to be a pity party. We don’t want sad headshakes on your way out of town. As Tom Izzo said today, “There are a lot of cities out there that have problems; this is ours.” And he’s right. This is our city, but it’s your America. What the rest of the nation is suffering, we went through first. And if our leaders aren’t wise, what we’re enduring now, you may endure next.

You can’t cut off your manufacturing arm and expect to build. You can’t outsource everything and expect to lead the world. And you can’t treat blue-collar industry as a bunch of dumb rivetheads who need the government to run them, while allowing the banking world to do as it pleases with taxpayer money.

It wasn’t the auto industry that shot a hole in the side of America.

My Tigers begin the 2009 season today in Toronto with Jason Verlander on the mound My Tigers against Toronto ace Roy Halladay. Hard to predict which Tiger team we are going to see this season (the champs of 2007 or the chumps of 2008), but one thing for sure going into this opening four-game series in Toronto is that we don’t want to lose the first seven games of the season again and have to play catch-up all season. If we win as many as we lose in the opening weeks of the season, I will consider that a major improvement on 2008.  I'm going to be a little hard on the Tigers as they were more than a little disappointing last season. The AL Central doesn't look to be as tough as it was last season and I think the Tigers need only worry about Aaron's Twins. Anyway as you can see from the photo I got my Tiger cap out and I am ready for the season to get underway

The Tigers’ home opener is scheduled for this Friday afternoon against the Texas Rangers at Comerica Park. If all goes well Verlander should be starting that game, too. Here is a link to the Tigers 2009 Schedule.

The NCAA hockey tournament (Frozen Four) has the ultimate Cinderella team this year in the Bemidji State Beavers. They were a 16 seed going into the tournament and then got BSB peoples attention by knocking off Notre Dame (how sad) and Cornell to punch their ticket to the Frozen Four in Washington, D.C. next weekend.  Bemidji State is located in the state of Minnesota and has a rich hockey history, this however, is their first trip to the division one championship or Frozen Four. For the record they beat Notre Dame 5-1 in the regionals!

The three-day holiday ends tonight and we're back in the classroom tomorrow morning. It has been both a relaxing and productive break from the regular routine. Just what was needed!

Today’s gospel and some comments:

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ Lk 4:16-21

Jesus frequently caused a stir in synagogues and was eventually expelled. Today’s reading makes the reason clear. “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing," he said. People were more used to hearing about the past. The past is no threat, but today could prove to be very upsetting. Today is the most difficult day.

Yesterday and tomorrow are no trouble; perhaps that’s why we spend so much time there! Imagine: if they were places. We would seldom be at home! We would drop in now and then to see that our place hadn't been robbed, but we would leave again immediately. Really, we are robbing ourselves. What use is our place to us? 

If all the prophecies of all time are not fulfilled today, when will they be fulfilled? Nothing ever happens unless it happens today. Yesterday and tomorrow are only escapes from home; they are absences. I can be present only in the present.

Jesus was intensely present, in the synagogue he read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me...” For his audience these were ancient words, written many centuries before. But for Jesus they were a present experience. In the previous chapter we were told, “The Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’” Memory is about the past, but experience is always in the present.

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." This means that it is necessary to respond to it, to be either for it or against it. If it’s just in the past there’s no hurry: there can be endless postponement, and we become used to living with unresolved ambiguity. But today means that time has run out, you have to jump now. It’s no wonder they threw him out.

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Sunday, April 05, 2009

Don't Mess With Sparty in Detroit! (Palm Sunday 2009)

Sparty

"What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves?" - Thomas Merton

I started the day with the morning walk and then came back to the apartment and made a pot of coffee before listening to the Michigan State-U Conn basketball game. Little brother is really amazing!! ^_^

DSCN3074Wang Wei, Chen Shuo and the infamous Marina Wang were in the office today. Wang Wei did some work while the other two did their best to bother me!

I spent most of the day in the office correcting journals and prepping lectures for the next few weeks. The postgraduate/residency students came in to do some mock interviews and the high school students were also in this afternoon for some English practice.

Tingting’s mom stopped by to deliver a birthday present for me from Tingting. I am now the owner of beautiful new Nokia hand phone. As you can see from theDSCN3071 picture it is a very nice phone and I’m sure it is also a very expensive one. Tingting is doing well and keeping busy these days with her private students. Her leg is healed now and she is able to get around without any problems. An amazing recovery story. I’m going to have to go out to Shuangji and see Tingting soon.

We have been having some real spring weather this weekend so it is kind of a bummer to be stuck inside correcting journals and prepping lectures. The schedule the past few weeks has been heavy with visitors and with a Hong Kong trip just a few weeks away I need to teach some extra classes to make up for lectures I’ll miss when on the road.

Today is Palm Sunday around the world and qingmingjie 清明节 here in China. Palm Sunday begins the most holy of weeks for Christians around the world (Holy Week) and next Sunday we will be celebrating Easter. There is an interesting and informative article in this week’s Newsweek that deals with a Discovery channel show airing this week on: Who was the historical Jesus?

I had mass in the chapel this afternoon and then came back to the office to get some more work done. It is a nice thought to have another off day coming up tomorrow. 

Today is Rad’s Dad’s Birthday so on this special day I want to join with Rad in Dad_Birthday wishing her Dad a very happy and joy filled birthday. Rad prepared a message on a favorite photo, so I’ll just let the message say it for the Great Wall.

Rad along with Kevin and Jacqui have done an excellent job this year working at Beihua University. It has really been great for me to have them be part of my work in Jilin for the past seven months or so and I will definitely miss them when they leave at the end of the semester. 

Rad and Jacqui are 2008 graduates of the University of Notre Dame (a Catholic college located just south of the Michigan border in the state of Indiana) and loyal alumni of that fine school.

Kevin is a 2007 graduate of St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Kevin attended the same school as John Fehr, John Schaus, Will Gibson, Jess, Shuan Crumb, Aaron Voth and other young teachers who have been here in Jilin over the years.

MSU flying high

They are still dancing in Michigan as the MSU Spartans punched their ticket to the Old folks dancing NCAA Championship game on Monday night with a big win over another top seeded team. The Spartans seemed to have little trouble in their 82-73 win. The University of Connecticut Huskies pretty much experienced the same thing that Louisville experienced last weekend; MSU and the Big Ten may be physical, but this team can and likes to run. This was a game tailor-made for Kalin Lucas! Kalin Lucas's night

That basketball game last night in Detroit was a dandy for the state of Michigan. MSU now has back-to-back wins over number one seeded teams and will play another one (North Carolina) for the national title on Monday night at Ford Field. The announced attendance last night was 72,000 plus Final 4 logo (a Final Four record) and let me assure my readers that record will be broken Monday night. 

Listening to the game it became pretty clear to me at about the halfway point of the first half that Izzo had a game plan to beat U Conn: Pick up the pace and tire out U Conn’s big man seemed to be what the Spartans were doing and it worked.

So the whole state of Michigan has at least two more days to celebrate the Spartans' accomplishments. My bracket is looking very good in terms of the championship game as I have NC and MSU playing for the championship. My Yahoo entry has me in the 99th percentile so it has been a very good tournament in terms of my predictions. Wish I was in an office pool this year. ^_^

Victory for MSU

Little brother had plenty to celebrate!

Ford Field April 4, 2009A view of the 72,000 plus fans at Ford Field for the NCAA Final Four game between MSU and U Conn.

The gospel for the blessing of palms and some Palm Sunday comments:

When Jesus and his disciples drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately on entering it, you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone should say to you, 'Why are you doing this?' reply, 'The Master has need of it and will send it back here at once.'" So they went off and found a colt tethered at a gate outside on the street, and they untied it. Some of the bystanders said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" They answered them just as Jesus had told them to, and they permitted them to do it. So they brought the colt to Jesus and put their cloaks over it. And he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out: "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest!"

What different story would we be telling today if the unnamed owners of the donkey had refused to give it up? Maybe we would have no story of the triumphal entry, at least not in the way Jesus wanted it. No matter how unknown a person is, he or she can still play a crucial role in the unfolding of God's plan. The Lord needs each one of us as he needed the unnamed owners of the donkey in the reading. We are not told who these owners of the donkey are but the fact that they understood that "the Lord" refers to Jesus and voluntarily gave up the donkey shows that they could be his secret disciples or admirers. Otherwise one would have expected them to answer, "But who is this Lord who needs my donkey?"

A donkey was a very big thing in those days. The donkey was the equivalent of a car, a truck and a tractor all in one. It was a car because people used it to move around and do their shopping, a truck because it was used to carry loads, and a tractor because it was used in cultivating the land. Add to this the fact that the donkey had never been ridden, that means it was brand new and had a very high market value. You can see that giving up the donkey just because the Lord needed it was a very big sacrifice. It was a generous act of faith.

Now, compare the faith response of the owners of the donkey to that of many of the faithful in our churches today. 

A visiting preacher was really getting the congregation moving. Near the end of his sermon he said, "This church has really got to walk," to which someone in the back yelled, "Let her walk preacher." The preacher then said, "If this church is going to go it's got to get up and run," to which someone again yelled with gusto, "Let her run preacher." Feeling the surge of the church, the preacher then said with even louder gusto, "If this church is going to go it's got to really fly," and once again with ever greater gusto, someone yelled, "Let her fly preacher, let her fly." The preacher then seized the moment and stated with even greater gusto, "If this church is really going to fly it's going to need money." There was silence. Then someone in the back seat cried, "Let her walk preacher, let her walk." 

Max Lucado reminds us that each of us has got a donkey that the Lord needs. Here is his reflection on using our donkey for the service of the Lord: “Sometimes I get the impression that God wants me to give him something and sometimes I don't give it because I don't know for sure, and then I feel bad because I've missed my chance. Other times I know he wants something but I don't give it because I'm too selfish. And other times, too few times, I hear him and I obey him and feel honored that a gift of mine would be used to carry Jesus to another place. And still other times I wonder if my little deeds today will make a difference in the long haul.”

Maybe you have those questions, too. All of us have a donkey. You and I each have something in our lives, which, if given back to God, could, like the donkey, move Jesus and his story further down the road. Maybe you can sing or hug or program a computer or speak Swahili, Chinese or another language, or write a check, etc. Whatever, that's your donkey.

Whichever gift you have, it belongs to him. It really does belong to him. Your gifts are his and the donkey was his. The original wording of the instructions Jesus gave to his disciples is proof: "If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkeys, you are to say, 'Its Lord is in need.'" 

So, what is the name of your donkey? The Lord needs it.

Posted at 03:09 PM | | Comments (0)

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Little Brother Rises to the Occasion (MSU Upsets U Conn)

MSU flying high 

No Team Will Stop Them Now and Only One Gets A Chance!!

Posted at 11:13 AM |

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Saturday, April 04, 2009

He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother! MSU vs UConn (April 4, 2009)

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"Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their own personal happiness." - Leo Tolstoy

I slept in this morning and started the day with a few cups of coffee at the apartment. I had morning prayers in the chapel before heading over to the office where I have been for most of the day.

We had a lot of fun last night at English Corner. The students started a three-day DSCN3006 holiday weekend yesterday after classes, so everyone was more relaxed than usual (they are usually quite relaxed) at the English Corner.

Rad and Kevin the young Maryknoll teachers came over for dinner and English Corner. Their presence every Friday is really appreciated by the students and me. Jacqui Collins the third young Maryknoll teacher went to Changchun last night with some other foreigners so we missed here. 

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Rad was over again today to talk about her plans for the future. She came over in the afternoon and hung out for a good while. She is busy preparing for the LSAT exam sometime later this year. In case you are wondering, Rad was a member of the Notre Dame Boxing Club.

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It is a three-day holiday weekend, but my dedicated assistant Wang Wei was here in the office with me all day. Wang Wei will be heading to the US later this month for an extended stay and she is trying to teach me everything I need to know about the office, finances, etc, so i can handle it while she is away. I have a feeling that it is not going to be easy being me while she is away!!!

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Li Hongmei was in the office early this morning. She stopped by to bother me (^_^) before opening up the Thomland Language DSCN3016 Center. The Center will be open all weekend and it was a pretty place both this morning and this afternoon. There weren’t many students in there taking practice exams or working on their pronunciation, etc today; the students in Thomland today were all watching movies, or episodes of Friends or ER. 

The map of Jilin City on the left gives my reader back home a good idea of the DSCN3000 layout of Jilin City and how the ‘river runs through it’. The arrow doesn’t indicate the location of the college, but we are only a few blocks away from the bookstore that is indicated by the arrow. Jilin City is also called ‘River City’ and the map sort of indicates why the city would get that name. The Songhua river flows from south to north and has as it's origin the Changbai Mountain on the border of China and North Korea.

The northern most part of Jilin City (yellow area at top of map) is the home of Jilin's chemical industry and the least favored place to live. The southern most part of Jilin City (also yellow area, but at the bottom of the map) is where I live. The quality of the air is quite good and there are no big industries in this part of the city. It is the fastest growing residential area in Jilin City.

Ford Feild, Detroit Michigan

Ford Field in  Detroit, Michigan the Site of the 2009 Final Four-NCAA Basketball Championship.

The big basketball game is set for about 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning China Final 4 logo time. Family and friends will be attending and cheering for the hometown favorite Spartans. My readers back home don't need anything on this blog to get them excited, but just in case a few aren't already psyched for the big game at Ford Field, those folks can just click on this Download Something to get you ready to rumble for a little help. I'm sure that East Lansing is rocking at this time and I'm also sure that there won't be any empty seats at Ford Field tonight. Enjoy the game and try to save a little energy and some of your voices for Monday night.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, ‘What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.’ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.’ He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to put him to death. Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews, but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness; and he remained there with the disciples. Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and were asking one another as they stood in the temple, ‘What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?’ Jn 11:45-56 

After raising Lazarus Jesus became very popular and it didn’t take long. His low point was after the feeding of the five thousand: “After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him”; but now everyone was beginning to believe in him. So the religious authorities stepped in. Their own status was being undermined, but they would not say this in so many words. Instead they said he was a threat to national security.

The highest religious authority in the land, the Sanhedrin, determined to have him killed. There had been attempts on his life before, but this time it was official. Caiphas, the high priest, rationalized it: “It is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” John draws out the many ironies in this event.

First, by raising Lazarus to life Jesus has sealed his own death. But there is the even greater irony that it is through the death of Jesus that life will come for “the dispersed children of God.” Caiphas was thinking only about the Jewish nation (or perhaps only pretending to do so), but by marking Jesus out for death, he was unwittingly bringing about the salvation of “the dispersed children of God”, a much wider group than the Jewish nation. Without knowing or willing it, he was instrumental in fulfilling the hope of all the ages: Isaiah 11:12; Jeremiah 31:8; Ezekiel 11:17 Micah 2:12-13; 2 Maccabees 17. A third irony (if it is irony), was the plot to sacrifice Jesus lest “the Romans come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.” They sacrificed Jesus, but the Romans still came and destroyed both the holy place and the nation.

“Being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation.” It is more than irony; it borders on dark humor. Caiphas the prophet! A scripture scholar once remarked on this passage by saying, “Thus even in the most dreaded councils of the wicked, the plan of God goes forward. This does not in any way lessen the reality of evil, but it places that evil within a larger framework which is ultimately positive, the framework of divine providence.”

Posted at 02:23 PM |

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Friday, April 03, 2009

Three Day Weekend Begins and Little Brother Gets Ready to Rumble!!

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"The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself." - Lao Tzu 

I went to bed later than usual last night as a few padres stopped by to say hello and chat. I did, however, get up early and started the day the usual way with my morning walk, mass in the chapel and then breakfast with a group of freshmen nursing students. The kids were a little excited this morning about the three-day weekend that began when classes ended this afternoon.

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I had a larger than usual crowd at breakfast this morning. A few of the second year nursing students stopped in to recall the 'good ole days' and have some fun with their old teacher the young freshmen.

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We have been having some very nice weather the past few days and that makes the morning walk a little more enjoyable. Today I went out and back without wearing a hat or gloves. The sun is now rising at around 4:25 which also makes the walk a little more enjoyable. Spring is coming!!

Today
Hi: 57°
Lo: 38°
Sat
Hi: 55°
Lo: 41°
Sun
Hi: 58°
Lo: 44°
Mon
Hi: 59°
Lo: 42°
Tue
Hi: 53°
Lo: 41°
Wed
Hi: 66°
Lo: 46°
Thu
Hi: 73°
Lo: 38°

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This weekend we celebrate Palm Sunday and here in China it will also be 清明节 Tomb-Festivals-qingming-01 Sweeping Day (The Chinese version of All Souls or Memorial Day). This link gives you a little of the history behind this Chinese traditional festival. Under the new holiday scheme here in the Middle Kingdom we get Monday off as a legal holiday. I plan to spend the three-day weekend here in Jilin, but some of the students are heading home or out to do a little traveling. The first year nursing students handed in their journals and the first draft of their short stories today, so those should keep me busy over next three days.

I spent the most of the day in the office working on some upcoming lectures. I did meet with the students who are preparing for their postgraduate/residency interviews for an hour this afternoon. Quite a few of the students have already had their interviews and our acceptance rate is really high; there are still a few who are waiting for their interviews and those are the ones I met with today.

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There was a lively group at the apartment today for lunch. Today instead of a DSCN2992 picture at the table, I got a couple of outside photos. TheDSCN2993 picture above is the walk heading to my apartment and the picture below is today's gang outside of my apartment. On the left and right are pictures of the kitchen where Jingmei puts together our meals. Jingmei is pretty happy about the long weekend, but she reminded me that it is only a one day vacation as she always has Saturday and Sunday off. ^_^ 

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Rad and Kevin two of the young Maryknoll teachers will be over this evening for dinner followed by a campus-wide English Corner. Since most of the students are hanging around for the three-day weekend we should have a good number show up tonight for the program.

Jacqui and Rad have pretty much decided to not comeback for a second year (Rad might do one more semester), meanwhile Kevin is still thinking about whether or not he wants to stay for a third year. I think he is leaning towards coming back which of course would be great. They all do a fine job and are really dedicated to their students.

I got a nice picture attached to an email this morning from my good friend Pat IMG_0164 Sullivan (a.k.a. Mr. Sport). This great photo on the left is of Pat and Jane Sullivan and their granddaughter Raegan. Now that we are down to the Final Four, Mr. Sport wrote to give his prediction (even his granddaughter has a 25 percent chance of being write once it gets down to the Final Four) on which team would come away with the national championship. ‘Mr. Sport’ is going with North Carolina just in case any of you haven’t filled in your brackets yet and need some help!! Mr. Sport is also pretty good at predicting the weather. His weather forecast for this weekend calls for sunrise in the morning, more sun during the day and sunset in the evening! ^_^

Little Brother is getting ready to rumble in a big Final Four semi-final game with U MSU Final 4 logo Conn tomorrow night. My prediction for that game is MSU 68- U Conn 64. I have been taking some heat for the 'little brother' comments, but believe me I like the Spartans! This is a huge weekend for the folks back in Michigan as they are not only hosting the tournament, but they also have a team in the Final Four. The Great Lake State needs a little something to cheer the folks up these days and the MSU basketball team are doing their best to be that something. I will be rooting for them on each and every possession and as you know I believe they are going to do it. Do you believe in Miracles? Go State!! 

Today’s gospel and some comments:

The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.’ Jesus answered, ‘Is it not written in your law, “I said, you are gods”? If those to whom the word of God came were called “gods”—and the scripture cannot be annulled — can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, “I am God’s Son”? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’ Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying, ‘John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.’ And many believed in him there. Jn 10:31-42

“If I am not doing the works of my Father then do not believe me.” Talking about God is not enough, even when it is Jesus who is talking. This is the greatest challenge to every preacher and every professor of theology. Christians often talk about “the Christian message” as if it could be written on a piece of paper. The Word was made flesh, not ink. St Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “You are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on the tablets of the human heart.”

A word was coined to supplement ‘orthodoxy’; it is ‘orthopraxis’. Orthodoxy means ‘right teaching’; orthopraxis would mean ‘right action’. Our words have to become flesh too: to reach our fingertips, so to speak. “What good is it,” wrote St James, “if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food: if one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

Posted at 04:29 PM | | Comments (0)

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Thursday, April 02, 2009

The G-20 in London and the F-4 in Detroit! (April 2, 2009)

Brian in Jilin City

I quote others in order to better express myself. - Michel Eyquem De Montaigne

I started the day with my morning walk followed by mass in the chapel and then breakfast with a group of freshmen. Today’s group was a very lively one and we had ourselves quite a bit of fun.

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Fr. Ed took off this morning. Wang Wei took him to the train station to catch the 9:33 train to Shenyang. He will be there for a few days before heading back to the US via Rome next week. It was good having him here in Jilin and I really appreciate his coming. We talked about the past, present and future and enjoyed more than a few good stories from our days together in Africa. 

I had writing class with the freshmen the first two periods this morning and then spent the rest of the day preparing some radio shows and catching up on some DSCN2984 work that I didn’t get done while Ed was here. We are heading into a three-day weekend, so I’m going to have some extra time over the next few days to get caught up on a number of things. Wang Wei gave me a hand and helped a number of students with some writing problems in the office this afternoon.

A made a few phone-calls and sent off a few emails today concerning a trip I will be making later this month. On April 20th, I will be taking another group of nursing students down to Hong Kong for a clinical placement at Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital. All the details on that trip are now in place. I hadn’t planned on making this trip as it is one of Wang Wei’s jobs, but with her leaving in mid-April for some work in the US for two months, it’s going to be necessary for me to escort the group. 

I went over to the apartment for lunch and then made a quick trip to the bank after lunch to take care of some banking business. Actually it should have been a quick trip to the bank, but it wasn’t because the teller had never dealt with forms I needed to use. She was, however, a nice young lady and we had a good chat while she delayed me!! ^_^ 

DSCN2985Sun Hongwei stopped by the office this afternoon to say goodbye. Hongwei will begin a new job in Anhui province the end of next week, so she is busy these days saying her goodbyes. I will miss her for sure as she always made the office a little brighter with her visits. I'm happy for her and wishe her all the best.

MSU Spartan leave East Lansing

The Four teams that make up this year's Final Four have arrived in Detroit. The Izzo team that I picked to win it all had the shortest trip to Detroit. The Spartans boarded a bus at the Breslin Center and made the hour or so trip to Detroit. Tom Izzo's Spartans (a.k.a. little brother) play U Conn in the first semi-final on Saturday. It is a de-facto home game for MSU and you can bet that a great majority of the fans(around 70,000) who will pack Ford Field on Saturday are going to be wearing Green (I just read that Tim has tickets and will be attending the games). U Conn is a good team, but in my opinion they don't match up well against little brother. 

March (April) Madness is a great time of year and in case you didn't know it is Detroit only going to get better in the months ahead. My Detroit Tigers will be opening the season and their quest for a pennant next Monday at Toronto against the Blue Jays. I have a feeling that my Tigers are going to win the AL Central this year and I can't wait for the action to begin. As always you can follow the Tigers action right here on The Great Wall.

The first meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and US President Barack Obama took place in London today prior to the Group of 20 summit. The two Hu and Obama eaders pledged that both countries will be working together to help the world resist the financial crisis. 

China and the US have agreed to prioritize the two countries' relations by establishing the new strategic economic dialogue. The two teams will be headed by Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo from the Chinese side and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner from the US side. President Hu Jintao and US President Barack Obama made the announcement to the press before they went into the official meeting, their first, at Winfield House, residence of the US ambassador to the UK.

Although it is their first meeting, they have kept a close contact, which Obama said will "set the stage" for both countries "to tackle the challenges in the years HU, Obama and Clinton to come." Both presidents highlighted the importance of China-US relations, especially during the current economic crisis. Obama said he hoped their meeting will be constructive and open not only about the whole state of the world economy during the current crisis, but to the efforts to improve peace and security for both countries and the world.

Hu said all the positive results the two countries have achieved have not come easily, adding that he hoped to develop good working relationship and personal friendship with Obama. Sino-US relations are of fundamental interests not only to both countries, but to peace, stability and prosperity to Asia and the world.

An interesting article in this week’s Newsweek deals with the post-Olympic use National Stadium..Bird's Nest of the main Olympic structures in Beijing. According to the article “China is a command economy run by engineers, a fact that served the nation well during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Leaders cleaned up pollution in the city prior to the event by shutting down factories and ordering more than half of Beijing's vehicles off the road. Even better, visitors were wowed by a host of stunning new buildings—including the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, the gravity-defying China Central Television (CCTV) headquarters complex and the surrealistic   National Performing Arts Center—that NEWSWEEK feted as the most exciting and complete architectural transformation of a city since the 1865-1887 10 redesign of Paris by Baron Haussmann. 

But Haussmann didn't produce an empty shell. Now Beijing's new icons are highlighting not so much a national genius for design and construction, but the country's utter lack of marketing savvy. The Bird's Nest, CCTV tower and arts center, which together cost more than $1.5 billion to build, have become commercial disasters, suffering from money and image problems thanks to a calamitous fire and a lack of forward planning on how to generate cash post-Games. Unlike cities such as Sydney, which used Olympic structures and publicity to create a longer-term flow of tourists and business traffic, Chinese leaders adopted a "build it and they will come" attitude, not giving much thought to exactly which folks might come to see what events after the Games. "As always in China, the software lags behind the hardware," says Beijing-based consultant James MacGregor, author of "One Billion Customers."

Today’s gospel and some comments:

‘Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.’ The Jews said to him, ‘Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, “Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.” Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, “He is our God”, though you do not know him. But I know him; if I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.’ Then the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. Jn 8:51-59

A good number of years ago, Joyce Cary, wrote: “It is the tragedy of the world that no one knows what he doesn’t know – and the less a man knows, the more sure he is that he knows everything.” This seems to be especially true in the field of religion. Claiming to know what I don't know is a form of cheating: it is like putting forged money into circulation. The world is filling up with a number of fundamentalist groups, all of them claiming to be certain of something. Their very aggressiveness shows that their ‘certainty’ is a cover for disbelief and confusion; it is a drowning man’s grip. When you are really sure of something, there is no aggression, just a quiet resolve to live by it. Fundamentalists are afraid of doubt, so they claim certainties they have no right to, since they have not travelled the path themselves. Francis Bacon wrote, “If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.”

Jesus told his hearers in a very direct way that they did not know God. This was a stinging criticism of people who considered themselves “heirs of the prophets, and heirs of the covenant." God is not known in the way you know anything else. Knowledge of God is a strange kind of knowledge that seems at times like the opposite of knowledge. In the 14th-century work, The Cloud of Unknowing, intellectual humility is of the essence of theology. Having spoken about the limitations of theology, St Thomas Aquinas then added, “Nevertheless it is useful for the human mind to exercise itself in such enquiries, inade¬quate as they are, provided there is no presump¬tuous claim to complete understanding and demonstration.” And in another passage he wrote, very challengingly, “This is the final human knowledge of God: to know that we do not know God.” We might have expected such statements from Meister Eckhart, who said, “If one knows anything in God and affixes any name to it, that is not God; God is above names and above nature,” but to hear the sober Aquinas say the same thing is very challenging. 

“Before Abraham was, I am,” said Jesus. This echoes God’s revelation of his name to Moses: “God said to Moses, ‘I Am Who I Am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you'" (Exodus 3:14). Before Abraham was, “I am,” not “I was.” This is Jesus’ clearest claim to divinity in the gospel. He knew God because he was one with God. 

If you refuse to pretend you know something about yourself or the universe, about life itself, then one sweet day, you will notice something very tender and delicate at the core of your being. It is where all affection and compassion come from.

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Wednesday, April 01, 2009

A Maryknoll Day in Jilin City!

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Our Lady's Grotto in Jilin City. (圣母洞 中国-吉林）

"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing." - Theodore Roosevelt

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I got in the morning walk, followed by mass in the chapel before heading over to the office to answer some emails before having breakfast with the freshmen. Fr. Ed brought a nice big bar of Cadbury Chocolate which made the students pretty happy.

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I had a full morning of classes on this April Fool’s Day! The students tried, but they did not succeed!! Rad, however, came over from Beihua and created havoc. She put up signs telling the students they could get a free lunch at my office, Notre Damed my office windows, to name just a few things!!

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Sometimes it is not easy being me!!!

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After lunch with a gang of sophomores Wang Wei and I took Fr. Ed on an afternoon tour of Jilin City. We went down to the parish, visited the Tianji Center and some scenic sites, too.

This evening the Maryknoll crew in Jilin City is going to get together for a meal with Ed. Jacqui, Rad, Kevin, Wang Wei, Fr.Jim, Ed and I all went out for a nice hot pot meal and some fellowship. 

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Yesterday afternoon I took Ed to Changchun to meet Bishop Zhang and we had nice visit. 

Ed will be leaving tomorrow. It has been great having him here the past few days.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.’ They answered him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father does.’ They said to him, ‘We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. Jn 8:31-42 

His hearers’ ancestors had been slaves in Egypt in the remote past, and perhaps this made their descendants a little sensitive on the question of freedom. Their pride in their freedom made them deny the real past and claim a fictitious one. “We have never been slaves to anyone,” they said. The ego picks and chooses its facts. Sometimes you get the impression that personality – whether an individual’s or that of a group – is just the opposite of the truth. Personality is a defense – sometimes a belligerent one, but more often like the camouflage that animals use so well to protect themselves. Aggressive talk and behavior are often a cover for fear; boasting is evidence of a low self-image; a pleaser has no interest in you at all. But only the truth, Jesus said, will set us free.

‘Freedom’, like the words ‘God’, ‘love’, ‘faith’, means whatever you want it to mean. These words are like empty forms into which you pour whatever you want. This is not to suggest that real freedom, love and faith do not exist, any more than it is to suggest that God does not exist. It is to say that there is an inner reality that is not guaranteed by the corresponding word. External forms of freedom have their own urgency, but inner slavery can co-exist with external freedom. But I am not fully free until I have inner freedom: in other words, until I am free of myself.

How free are you? Try this experiment. Take a sheet of paper and a pencil and draw a figure that expresses pure freedom – a figure that is pure freedom. Nobody is pushing you or holding you back. There are no guidelines and no expectations, except that the figure should express pure freedom. It is very difficult! But just think: if it is so difficult in such a simple matter, how much more difficult when it comes to highly complex human actions? The truth, Jesus said, will set us free. One part of that truth is that we are not free. Freedom is not a thing of the past; it is something I have to step into in the present, with every step.

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