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The Catholic Church

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

Can you beat this?


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

Youth learn by example


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

The Second Coming

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

The Problems of Sin and Imperfection


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

Suffering


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

WORK TIRELESSLY FOR PEACE

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Spirituality


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

I will not fear, for you are ever with me


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

History of Maryknoll

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

A Chinese Proverb


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

Chinese Wisdom

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

God Needs Us


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

Decisions

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

From I have a Dream


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

Education


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

I CAN'T WAIT

Lessons for Life

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

The source of faith


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

Peace Prayer


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

knowledge

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

The Eucharist


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

Seeking God


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

Building


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

The Miracle


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

John of the Cross


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

God's Love


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

Be Not Afraid


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

Spirituality


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

If my compassion is true


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

Youth learn by example


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

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Sunday, May 31, 2009

Pentecost Sunday in the Middle Kingdom (May 31, 2009)

Great Wall

Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd. - Edith Sitwell

This is a working Sunday here in the Middle Kingdom. The three-day vacation to celebrate the Dragon Boat festival is followed by a six day work week (Sunday-Friday) to make up for the extra day off. If people had to pay back borrowed money so quickly, we wouldn’t be in the financial mess we are in back home today!

I was up early and got in my morning walk. I had mass later in the day with Alisa and Mark, so I spent a little quiet time in the chapel before heading over to the office to have breakfast with a group of students.

I had the freshmen for writing class this morning. We spent a good part of the first period going over their writing errors and then did some writing and dictation work the second period.

I had to get tough with one of my students who seems to be trying her best to fail my class. Many have tried to fail my writing class, but few have succeed! I think that after the in-class pep talk which she received today I’ll be seeing a little more effort on her part. ^_^ 

Wang Wei's Mom

I was in and out of the office much of the day. I had mass with Alisa and Mark at around 10:00. I made a hospital run to visit a sick friend (she is doing much better) and say hello to the family and I also stopped by Wang Wei’s home to say hello to her mother (above) and help her with a small computer problem. Wang Wei’s mom is looking good albeit a little lonely. She tried to convince me to stay while she put together a small meal. I know her well enough to know what a small meal will include, so I thanked her and headed back to the office.

DSCN4295A few former students stopped by the office this afternoon. It is always good to see these kids (now not kids of course) and get progress reports. TingTing called around noontime to say that she will be here tomorrow to say hi to Mark and Alisa.

DSCN4296Florence stopped by and took over my desk for an hour or so. 

DSCN4298The Thomland Language Center is busier than ever at this time of year. The DSCN4300 national college English exam (CET-4) is only three weeks away (Saturday June 20th) and the kids are now kicking into final preparation mode. I stopped by theDSCN4301  Center this afternoon and as you can see from these photos it was a beehive of activity with students taking practice reading and listening exams. Thomland is always a busy place, but the weeks before the CET exams in June and December it is especially busy.

DSCN4302The weather has been really nice the past few days. That is most likely going to change in the days ahead as the weatherman is calling for quite a bit of rain over the next four or five days. That will be good news for local farmers as we haven't had all that much rain so far this year.

Today
Hi: 71°
Lo: 54°
Mon
Hi: 71°
Lo: 54°
Tue
Hi: 74°
Lo: 57°
Wed
Hi: 77°
Lo: 61°
Thu
Hi: 75°
Lo: 61°
Fri
Hi: 75°
Lo: 57°

My Tigers returned to winning baseball last night in Baltimore. Justin Verlander won Det his sixth straight as Detroit used three long balls to beat the Orioles for theBal first time in this series. Thomas had two homeruns and Granderson added one of his own for the Tigers. Verlander wasn't as dominating as he has been over the past month, but he had enough to limit the Orioles to a few runs and get the win. The two teams play an afternoon game tomorrow and then Detroit heads home to start a six game homestand against Boston and Los Angeles . Minnesota and Kansas City both lost again so it Is now the Chicago White Sox sitting in second place in the American League (AL) Central.

CENTRAL W L PCT GB HOME ROAD RS RA DIFF STRK L10
Detroit 27 21 .563 - 15-7 12-14 253 211 +42 Won 1 5-5
Chicago Sox 23 25 .479 4 12-10 11-15 205 222 -17 Won 2 7-3
Minnesota 24 27 .471 4.5 19-11 5-16 258 252 +6 Lost 3 6-4
Kansas City 23 26 .469 4.5 15-14 8-12 205 224 -19 Lost 3 2-8
Cleveland 21 30 .412 7.5 11-13 10-17 269 284 -15 Lost 2 6-4

Today’s gospel and some comments:

 When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. ‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. John 15:26-27;16: 12-15

One bright Sunday morning like today, Wang Peng's mother hurries into her son's bedroom and wakes him up. "Son it's Sunday. Time to get up! Time to get up and go to church! Get up!" Wang Peng mumbles from under the covers, "I don't want to go." "What do you mean you don't want to go?" says the mother. "That's silly. Now get up and get dressed and go to church! "Wang Peng says, "No, I don't want to go and I'll give you two reasons why I don't want to go." He sits up on the bed and continues, "First, I don't like them and second, they don't like me." His mother replies, "Now, that's just plain nonsense. You've got to go to church and I'll give you two reasons why you must. First, you're now forty years old and, second, you're the pastor!"

This sleepy Wang Peng could have been any of the apostles whom Jesus had commissioned to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. But as soon as Jesus leaves them, what do they do? They retire to their upper rooms and hide themselves. They were afraid of the Jews. Like Wang Peng they knew that the people did not like them, they knew that their message was different from the popular message of the time, and they just felt like wrapping themselves up in bed and not having to get up and face the hostile society. We too are often like that, going to church quietly, receiving Jesus in our hearts quietly, and going home again quietly to say our morning and evening prayers quietly. But what about the charge that Jesus left for you and me to be his witnesses and to share the Good News of God's love with all humankind? No. People do not like to be reminded of God. I am afraid they are going to tell me off if Pentecost Icon I speak to them about God. I am afraid they will not listen to me. I am afraid they will call me a freak out of touch with reality. They don't like us and we don't like them. And so, like Wang Peng, we give up on our God-given duty and go on enjoying our comfortable silence, our comfortable sleep.

Fortunately, Wang Peng has a guide, his mother, who wakes him and persuades him to go out and preach. This is the kind of work that the Holy Spirit does in the hearts of believers. When fear of trouble tends to freeze our faith into silent submission to despair, the Holy Spirit warms us up and empowers us to go out there and make a difference. The Holy Spirit reminds us, as Wang Peng’s mother reminded him, that we have a mission. Our mission is to tell everybody the Good News that God is their Father, that God is the Father of us all, that in spite of all the visible difference of language and culture and social status, we are all one family and should therefore live as brothers and sisters. Our mission is to break the barriers between "us" and "them," between male and female, between Jew and Gentile, between rich and poor, between Black and White, Holy Spirit Cross between First World and Third World, and to bring all humankind to speak the one universal language of brotherly/sisterly love. This is possible only through the working of the Holy Spirit.

One reason his mother gave Wang Peng why he should wake up from his sleep is that he is now forty years old. He is now of age. Christianity is now 2000 years old. Yet even in the so-called Christian civilizations, the universal brotherhood of all humankind in God through Christ has not been understood. "What can I do?" you may say, "I am only a single individual. What difference can I make?" Maybe we can learn something from the story of the black squirrel and the owl.

A black squirrel once asked a wise old owl what was the weight of a single snowflake. "Why, nothing more than nothing," the owl answered. The squirrel then went on to tell the owl about a time when he was resting on a branch of a maple tree, counting each snowflake that came to rest on the branch until he reached the number 1,973,864. Then with the settling of the very next flake -- crack! The branch suddenly snapped, throwing the squirrel and the snow to the ground. "That was surely a whole lot of nothing," said the squirrel.

You daily personal efforts to spread the reign of love and justice may be as lightweight as snowflakes. But by heaping our snowflakes together we shall eventually be able to break the heavy branch of sin, evil and injustice growing in our world today.

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Saturday, May 30, 2009

Running Around Jilin City (May 30, 2009)

Brian on the Jilin Riverbank

"Rare is the person who can weigh the faults of others without putting his thumb on the scales." - Byron J. Langenfeld

I started the day by making a pot of coffee and chatting online with Wang Wei and Wang Minghong. They are both doing well and  are really enjoying their experience at Baker College.  They are now down to their final two weeks in the US. They will attend the graduation ceremonies  at Baker College on June 12th and then fly back to China on the 13th of June. After I finished chatting with those two I had mass in the chapel and then came over to the office at around 7:30.

Alisa had an interesting night last night. She spent the night in one of the dorms with a few of the second year nursing students. Li Hongmei and Qu Yuedan were in my office early this morning to give me a report on their night with Alisa. They all had a good time.

Today Mark and Alisa went over to Jingmei's home for lunch. I was tied up with a number of things, so I didn't have the good luck to be with them for a Jingmei home-cooked meal. They had dinner with a couple of students in the dining hall; it is pretty easy taking care of these two! ^_^

They were just here at the apartment to give me a rundown on their day and to check on tomorrow's schedule. They have a light load tomorrow. Mass at 10:00 and then they are free.

I was in and out of the office most of the day. I was basically running around Jilin City taking care of a bunch of stuff. I should have had Alisa and Mark with me as it would have been a great tour of the city.

This morning I took two students to see Dr. Wang for some dental work. That went well and wasn't too painful. (At least for me it wasn't!!) They both have quite a few more appointments ahead of them.

Fr. Peter Xu

I went over to the seminary to see Fr. Peter Xu and go over a few things with him concerning summer plans, retreat schedules, etc. Peter is doing a great job as the rector of St. Joseph Seminary. (Above is a picture of Fr. Peter Xu and below is a picture of the seminary chapel)

Chapel at St. Joseph Seminary

I also stopped by the parish to drop off a few red envelopes for the sisters who will be making final vows on Tuesday morning. I have class on Tuesday so I won’t be able to attend the ceremony. There are 13 sisters who will be making their final profession on Tuesday.

In my conversation this morning with Wang Wei and Wang Minghong we talked about their return to Jilin in the middle of June. They have both been notified that upon return to China they will have to undergo a seven day quarantine before returning to the medical college.

Having been through a seven-day quarantine with Mark and Alisa, I know as well as Mark, Alisa and the folks from CDC anyone how boring something like that can be. At the same time I realize how effective it is in controlling the spread of the swine flu.

Today’s NY Times and Washington Post both had articles dealing with US citizens undergoing forcedQuarantine  quarantine in China as a preventive measure against the spread of swine flu. It goes with out saying that more than a few folks are pretty upset about being quarantined in a foreign country.  They however, are not going to find much support from the World Health Organization which yeterday praised China's strict measures to control the spread of swine flu.

The World Health Organization today praised China’s efforts to control the spread of swine flu. “The Chinese government has mounted a very robust response to the threat of A(H1N1) influenza and the efforts are paying off, it is important that they don’t let their guard down now".

Stan Fleming, America's top movie critic (Cool Movie Clubs one and only critic) who blogs at Life in the Mind of a Modest Genius had a link to Awkward Family Photos on his blog earlier in the week and it has become my place to go when I need a laugh. I kid you not, this stuff is good.  Kudos to Stan for giving me a few more laughs each day!

My Tigers lost their second game in a row and have now lost  three of their last four games. Fortunately for Detroit, the rest of the AL Central  are playing copycats and everyone seems to follow the Tigers lead. I feel pretty confident at this point of the season (yes it is very early) to tell all my readers that the AL Central is a two team race. Aaron's Twins and Brian's Tigers will compete for the division crown. The Wild Card is going to go to the AL East runner-up so the AL Central crown is a winner take all deal.

CENTRAL W L PCT GB HOME ROAD RS RA DIFF STRK L10
Detroit 26 21 .553 - 15-7 11-14 247 208 +39 Lost 2 5-5
Minnesota 24 26 .480 3.5 19-11 5-15 256 247 +9 Lost 2 6-4
Kansas City 23 25 .479 3.5 15-13 8-12 202 219 -17 Lost 2 3-7
Chicago Sox 22 25 .468 4 12-10 10-15 200 219 -19 Won 1 7-3
Cleveland 21 29 .420 6.5 11-12 10-17 264 274 -10 Lost 1 7-3

Today’s gospel and comments: 

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?’ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about him?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!’ So the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?’ This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. John 21:20-25

This is the closing scene of John’s gospel, and in it Peter is invited once again by Jesus, “Follow me!” Jesus had predicted that he would follow him: "Where I am going, St. Peter1 you cannot follow now, but you will follow later" (13:36). That time has come. Peter is now in a better position to understand what following Jesus will involve. Jesus spells out the cost of that love that Peter has just professed three times. In his youth Peter was able to follow his own sweet will, but now “you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (verse 18).

Peter has been given a leadership role in the community: “Feed (or tend) my sheep.” He can have no illusions about what that will entail. He will not lord it over others; instead, like the Good Shepherd, he will give his life for them. He was crucified during the persecution by Nero in the mid sixties of the first century.

Posted at 07:05 PM | | Comments (1)

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Friday, May 29, 2009

2009 Thomland Golf Outing Date is Announced... Today's Blog can be found under this one.

The 6th Annual Thomland Golf Outing

The Date has been set for the 6th Annual Thomland Golf Outing.  August 1, 2009

I will be home and taking part in my first BrianThomland Golf Outing and I hope as many family and friends as possible will join me.

I haven't joined any team yet so if you need a guy who can drive, chip and putt...just drop me a line! ^_^

In advance my thanks to Pat Sullivan and family for putting on the Thomland Golf Outing each year and for all their support.

Copy the information below...Tell your friends... Form a team.....Join me in helping to make the this Thomland Golf Outing the best yet!!!!

Thomland

6th Annual Thomland Golf Outing

WHEN: SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2009

WHERE: EAGLE CREST GOLF CLUB, YPSILANTI MICHIGAN

TIME: SHOT- GUN START: 8:30 AM Sharp!

LUNCH: SIT DOWN LUNCH & PRIZES AFTER GOLF!

COST IS $370.00 PER 4 PERSON TEAM ~

 FORMAT IS A 4 PERSON SCRAMBLE

This outing is to honor the memory of Thomas “Thom” Sullivan Proceeds from this outing will benefit two organizations that were important to Thom 1. Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC) Youth Camp 2. The Maryknoll Mission in China – Father Brian Barrons Help us support these two charitable organizations by enjoying Food, Fun and Golf If unable to attend, donations to either organization will be accepted and sincerely appreciated. Make a check payable to MUCC or Maryknoll Missions Any questions please call Pat Sullivan @ 810 569-0335 or 810 735-7310 email:psulli3250@chartermi.net

 REGISTRATION FORM

TEAM MEMBERS_____________________________________________

TEAM MEMBERS_____________________________________________

TEAM MEMBERS_____________________________________________

TEAM MEMBERS_____________________________________________

MAIL REGISTRATION FORM AND ENTRANCE FEE BY JULY 24, 2009

MAIL TO: PATRICK SULLIVAN 7382 LOBDELL RD LINDEN, MI 48451

CHECKS MADE PAYABLE TO PATRICK SULLIVAN

Golf Includes Driving Range, 18 Holes with cart

Eagle Crest Golf Club in Ypsilanti, MI

Shot-Gun Starting at 8:30 AM -

Beverage Cart Will Be Available

Sorry, No Carry on Coolers Allowed

 

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Making and Changing Plans (Friday May 29, 2009)

Jilin City Riverview

"It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish." – Aeschylus

After a fun day off campus yesterday, I spent most of this day in my office meeting with students, working on some retreat talks, prepping lectures and taking care of some Maryknoll stuff.

I stepped out of the office for about an hour this afternoon to see a friend in the hospital. She is doing well.

I got up later than usual today. I had a few cups of coffee while catching up on some emails. The coffee really hit the spot.I have cut back on my coffee drinking these days to about two cups of coffee a day, so these days I savor each cup.

Liu Xin came over last night and it was good to see him. He hasn't been staying with me since the quarantine period and I'm not sure if he is going to be coming back or not. He has a three-day break like us and wanted to watch some movies without disturbing his grandmother, so he came over to my place around 10:00 last night and spent the night.

Alisa teaching Jingmei and Xinxin to play solitaire

Alisa teaching Jingmei and Xinxin how to play solitaire.

Visitors

Zhang Yaxin and her high school classmate who is visiting her this weekend.

Freshmen TwinsHere is a great picture of my first year nursing student Liu Jiahui and her twin sister.

I have spent some time over the past few days making last minute changes to some summer plans. I had a few young friends coming next week to visit, but the college and CDC asked that they change their plans. The swine-flu precautions are pretty strict here (they are working) and quarantines,etc are no fun for visitors or the hosts. My nephew Paul was also planning to come this summer; I asked him last week to delay his trip till a later time.

China is reporting today what might be the first domestic transmission of the swine flu virus. A 22-year-old man in Shanghai is suspected of contracting the potentially deadly virus from a 30-year-old man surnamed Shu, who was the city's first confirmed flu victim.

Wang Wei was notified this week that she and Wang Minghong will have to do a seven day quarantine after they return to China on June 14th.

Suzy and the Infamous One

The infamous Marina Wang (right) stopped by the office to chat and talk about some summer plans. Suzy was with her, so I took a break and was entertained by their stories.

Jilin City's Century Square on Jilin StreetJilin's Century Square.

The campus was pretty quiet today. The weather was just beautiful and a lot of folks were out shopping or at the city parks and malls.

President Obama has nominated a Catholic theologian from Minnesota as the new ambassador to the Holy See. It is an interesting appointment as Diaz is an Orbis Books author (Orbis is the publishing arm of Miguel_Diaz Maryknoll) and presently a professor at the colleges of St. Benedict and St. John in Minnesota (many of our young teachers come from those two colleges) not to mention the fact that he is a theologian. How nice of the president!!

Diaz is also a consultant to Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. I think his appointment (nomination) is great news for social-justice, common-ground Catholics.

His nomination is also another step forward for America's Hispanic population. Coming on the heels of Sotomayer's Supreme Court Nomination it is definitely a feel good time for many.

My Tigers lost the opening game of their four-game weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles. The bats were pretty quiet in the opener so lets hope they can make some noise in the next few games. Minnesota is now in second place in the AL Central sitting five back of the Tigers in the all important loss column. The Twins lost to Boston yesterday afternoon so no change in the standings.

CENTRAL W L PCT GB HOME ROAD RS RA DIFF STRK L10
Detroit 26 20 .565 - 15-7 11-13 245 201 +44 Lost 1 6-4
Minnesota 24 25 .490 3.5 19-11 5-14 253 242 +11 Lost 1 6-4
Kansas City 23 24 .489 3.5 15-12 8-12 200 208 -8 Lost 1 4-6
Chicago Sox 21 25 .457 5 12-10 9-15 189 217 -28 Lost 1 6-4
Cleveland 21 28 .429 6.5 11-11 10-17 263 271 -8 Won 4 7-3

Today’s gospel and some comments:

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’ (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’John 21:15-19

Today’s picture is the alternative to the one described in yesterday’s comments. Not the Ik, but the community of love. Three times Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” People like to connect this with Peter’s triple denial of Jesus: he was being given a chance to undo the Peter damage. In addition, something else is happening in the original language, something that doesn’t appear in English.

There are several words for ‘love’ in Greek. ‘Philein’ means to love someone as a friend; ‘agapan’ usually means to love someone in the distinctive New Testament sense: to love them unselfishly, creatively, in the way that Jesus loved. In John's usage, this kind of love is mysteriously deeper and wider even than friendship, because it doesn’t depend on like-mindedness as friendship does; it can even reach out to include an enemy. Now, Jesus first asked Peter, ‘Agapas me?’ (Do you love me with this kind of love?) Peter replies, ‘Philo se’. (I love you as a friend.) The second time, the words are the same. But the third time, Jesus asks him, “Phileis me?’ And Peter answers as before, ‘Philo se’.

There is something touching about this. Peter wasn’t yet able to love Jesus in that heroic way; he could love him only as the friend he had known for three years. But the third time around, Jesus steps down, as it were, to accept what Peter was able to offer at that time.

Friendship, though it is a precious gift, can have a built-in trap. It could mean that you never allow the other to surprise you or shock you; it can mean ‘come into my camp.’

Can we put it this way: all forms of love and friendship are capable of advancing gradually towards to ‘agapè’. How do we go along that road? Like Peter, by doing the best we can.

Posted at 06:07 PM | | Comments (0)

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Thursday, May 28, 2009

端午节 2009 Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat race preparations

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

I got up early, but skipped the morning walk. Most of Jilin City was out walking to the river this morning to take part in some traditional 端午节 (Dragon Boat) festivities. I got the day going with mass and then had a cup of coffee while reading some news online.

As you can (will) see from pictures all over this blog, today was a day of fun (aren’t they all) and food (ditto). Alisa, Mark, Jacqui, Rad, Kevin and I joined the first year nursing students on a great outing in the countryside. 

My Tigers got back on the winning track by winning the rubber game of Rick is hot their three-game series with Kansas City. Detroit got 8 runs on 12 hits and Rick Porcello won his fifth straight start. The win puts the Tigers lead in the AL Central back at 4 games. They now head east to play the Orioles in a four-game series at Camden Yard.

It is still early in the season, but I have a feeling that this upcoming series in Baltimore is going to be huge. If the Tigers can get three out of four it would go a long way to give them the confidence they need. They are already playing some great baseball (hitting, fielding, pitching are all there) and a five or six game lead going into June is a good position to be in.

DSCN4152We gathered outside the Experimental Medical Center. 

DSCN4153Got on the bus.

DSCN4156

We traveled along the Songhua River.

DSCN4158And then through the countryside.

DSCN4162Arrived at a small resort

DSCN4166

Ate some Zongzi (traditional food for the Dragon Boat Festival)

DSCN4176Went for a hike up the mountain

DSCN4184Reached the peak

DSCN4186Mark and Alisa

DSCN4204We were hungry after climbing and had a big lunch at the resort.

DSCN4263

Barbeque for dinner

DSCN4275We played some games and had some winners.

DSCN4222The students who planned today's outing.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ‘Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’ John 17:20-26

The anthropologist Colin Turnbull lived for two years with a Ugandan tribe, the Ik, and described his experiences in a book calledThe Mountain People. They are seen as utterly brutish, selfish and loveless. They never sing, and they laugh only at one another’s misfortunes. They turn their children out to forage as soon as they can walk, and they abandon the old to starvation. Presumably they were once a normal easy-going people, but the government took over their lands to create a national park, and these hunter-gatherers were reduced to farming the poor hillside soil, at which they failed miserably. Along with their way of life they lost their culture and even their humanity. It doesn’t get more depressing than that, or does it?

The biologist Lewis Thomas, in The Lives of a Cell, sketched a theory about them – and about human beings in any society. “The solitary Ik, isolated in the ruins of an exploded culture, has built a new defense for himself. If you live in an unworkable society you can make up one of your own.... Each Ik has become a group, a one-man tribe of its own... This is precisely the way groups...from committees to nations, behave.... In his absolute selfishness, his incapacity to give anything away, no matter what, he is a successful committee. When he stands at the door of his hut, shouting insults at his neighbors, he is a city addressing another city.... Nations are the most Ik-like of all.... For total greed, rapacity, heartlessness, and irresponsibility there is nothing to match a nation. Nations, by law, are solitary, self-centered, withdrawn into themselves.” He concludes, “We haven’t yet learned how to stay human when assembled in masses. The Ik, in his despair, is acting out this failure, and perhaps we should pay closer attention.”

There are lessons here for the Christian community too. Despite hearing the Gospel, times without number, we are capable of living instead by the gospel of greed. Society breaks down around us, and we fail to create Christian community, receding into ourselves and living out our lives as solitary egos. The ego is my false identity; it is the identity I forge for myself in early childhood and build upon for the rest of my life, unless radically called into community. It is the fundamental lie about who I am. It is not really an identity, it is a strategy for survival, security and comfort. For this reason the ego cannot love, though it can produce an imitation of love, for strategic purposes. Whenever it pretends to form community with others there is a built-in flaw.

What is meaning? It is to know the fragment in relation to the whole. A madman is so-called because his talk and actions are unrelated to a wider structure. Cut a piece out of a picture and it is meaningless. Put it back and there’s a thrill of recognition. This is the small thrill of jigsaw puzzles. Today many people are like isolated fragments of a jigsaw puzzle, with no desire to be part of anything.

Posted at 10:41 PM | | Comments (6)

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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Dragon Boat Festival, Hoops, North Korean Saber Rattling and A Supreme Court Nominee!

Great Wall

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. - Krishnamurti

This day began with the morning walk, mass and breakfast with students. The kids were happier than usual today which is directly Dragon_boat_festival related to the fact that tomorrow begins a short holiday to celebrate The Dragon Boat festival.

The Dragon Boat Festival gives us a three-day break from classes, so we have Thursday, Friday and Saturday off and then return to the classroom on Sunday. Over the next few days we will be eating plenty Zongzi.

You can click here to Download Origin of the Dragon Boat Festival

I had the freshmen for class the last two periods this morning and that went well. Mark joined me for the class while Alisa went out with Li Na to visit Li Na’s uncle’s painting (art) studio.

Brian dribblesAfter lunch today I took on the freshmen class’ star basketball player in a Tired little game of one-on-one (the stakes were high) and I unfortunately came away on the losing end of a close game. The game was close (I lost by 2), so I did manage to save a little face.^_^ How I ever ended up in that game, is a long story, which I will save for a blog entry of its own. I had fun and worked a pound or two off, I hope! When it was all over I was feeling good; just before it was all over I was feeling bad!! ^_^

Song Jie and BrianTomorrow I’ll be heading out to the countryside near Songhua lake with a bunch of the freshmen nursing students. Alisa, Mark, Rad, Jacqui and Kevin will all be joining us so it should be a lot of fun. I will give you a full report on that in Friday’s blog.

In a move that (in my opinion) is long over-due, President Barack Obama chose federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor as the nation's first Hispanic Sonia Sotomayer with President Obama Supreme Court justice on Tuesday, praising her as "an inspiring woman" with both the intellect and compassion to interpret the Constitution wisely.

Obama said Sotomayor has more experience as a judge than any current member of the high court had when nominated, adding she has earned the "respect of colleagues on the bench, the admiration of many lawyers who argue cases in her court and the adoration of her clerks, who look to her as a mentor." 

Standing next to Obama at the White House, Sotomayor recalled a childhood spent in a housing project in the Bronx as well as her upper-echelon legal career: "I strive never to forget the real world consequences of my decisions on individuals, businesses and government."

North Korea did a little more saber rattling today as they warned South Korea and the United States that Seoul's participation in a U.S.-led program to intercept ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass North Korea destruction is equal to a declaration of war. (Not to be a legalist or anything like that, but technically we are still at war.)

South Korea announced its participation in the U.S.-led program on Tuesday, one day after North Korea defiantly conducted a nuclear test, drawing international criticism.

The North's military said in a statement that it will respond with "immediate, strong military measures" against any attempt to stop and search North Korean ships under the Proliferation Security Initiative.

My Tigers went against Zack Greinke and the KC Royals last night in Kansas City and came out on the losing end. (No surprise there.) Greinke is to put it simply just awesome this season. He is 8-1 with an earned run avg. of 0.84. He has been almost unbeatable this season. My Tigers have managed just one run in 18 innings against him in 2009. In a three game series against Kansas City the one thing you hope for coming into the series is that you don’t have to face Greinke.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth. John 17:11-19

 The theme of conflict between the Christian disciple and the world is very clear in this passage. Raymond Brown remarked that a passage such as this has “a message for an era that becomes naively optimistic about changing the world or even about affirming its values without change.” The ‘world’ in this case is not, of course, the natural world of mountains, rivers, trees... but all the worldly forces that are antagonistic to the Kingdom of God (and even to the natural world).

Looking at the way our world has been governed and it is amazing we are still here. In some ways it is getting better as at least today we know how bad things are. When greed masquerades as ideology, there are people who are willing and able to point it out. When crowds of people protest at stolen elections the world sees it (or some version of it) on TV. Today it is harder to hide than it has ever been. This is true at the individual level too. Anyone who has ever had a moment’s clear insight into their own dark side knows that we cannot afford to be naive about the struggle to live a Christian life.

The ‘world’ isn’t only out there; it is within us. We have within us all the powers of resistance to the Gospel. Unless I have had a clear insight into the snake-pit at the bottom of my soul, and look into that pit where fear and aggression are the same; unless I have observed how I hiss and spit when I am really cornered; and unless I see how I cover it all over with a veneer of politeness, I will not be fit to combat the evil around me. We also know about projection today: I am capable of fighting evil out there because I don’t have the courage or honesty to look at the evil within me. And I make the world look really bad so that my ego will look correspondingly good.

This is not to privatize evil. Don’t worry: there are billions of other egos out there!

“They do not belong to the world,” Jesus said. This ego-world is not our true nature and it is not our true identity. It is a divisive spirit, and the source of all divisiveness. The ego exists always in opposition. Since it is false, it cannot establish itself except in opposition to something else. But Jesus prayed to the Father for us: “that they may be one as we are one.”

Posted at 05:48 PM | | Comments (0)

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

North Korea Conducts Another Nuclear Test!! (May 26, 2009)

Great Wall

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices." - William James

I started my day the way most days start, the morning walk, mass in the chapel and breakfast in the office with students. Alisa and Mark joined me again today and we actually had a group of students join us today! ^_^ After the long weekend, the freshmen were a little confused about which group was on for breakfast yesterday and as a result no group showed up.

Breakfast 5-26After breakfast with the students I made a quick trip back to the apartment to chat with Wang Wei about a few things related to the work. Robbi Imhoff took Wang Wei and Minghong to the Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi for some Memorial Day shopping yesterday. Wang Wei and Minghong are both doing well and really learning a lot from their study program at Baker College. They are now down to their final three weeks.

I went down to the radio station this morning to go over some stuff with Xuefei. I haven't been doing too many shows since before the quarantine and probably won't do too many more until Wang Wei gets back late next month. With my research specialist and language expert out of the country, I really don't have the time to do all that it takes to put shows together. The listeners know I am on vacation.

Once again making the trip to the station put me in the danger zone. There is something about the taxi driver's I get when I'm going to the radio station that makes me think that someone is out to get me. Crazy driverToday's taxi driver was another crazy NASCAR Wannabee! He was in and out of traffic, driving way too fast and a real master of the 'pretend you are going to make a right turn, change your mind at the last minute, steer the wheel to the left and then go straight through the red light' tactic that more and more taxi drivers are using these days. I was told by a driver a few weeks ago that this new tactic keeps them from being caught on the CCTV cameras now up at many intersections. It is always a good feeling to know that your driver is up to snuff on the latest techniques that allow him to break traffic rules designed to keep you safe.  Where there is a will there is a way!!

DSCN4119We had a fun group of students for lunch at the apartment. I wasn't able to stay for lunch, but I was there long enough to bother them and get a picture.

I had class with the freshmen this afternoon and then a couple of meetings to attend. Mark and Alisa joined me for the oral English class. I am giving them plenty of work this week and they seem to enjoy being busy with the students. The students enjoy their presence very much.

Hongmei, Qu Yuedan, Mark and AlisaLi Hongmei, Qu Yuedan, Mark and Alisa on campus.

Library

Yesterday’s blog had the above picture of the artist’s drawing of our new Construction 1 library. I wondered over to the construction site this morning and took a few pictures to let you see how things are developing. Most of the construction work is scheduled to be finished by this winter;  I imagine weConstruction 2  will be moving into the new library sometime next summer. The new library and the campus development around the building will be a wonderful addition to Jilin Medical College. I am really happy for the students and faculty.

This evening I met with the three IELTS study groups. We missed most of the last three weeks due to: Fr. Sean’s death in Hong Kong, the quarantine period and the college’s sports meet. We have the Dragon Boat festival the day after tomorrow, so this evening’s meeting was more a case of looking to the future. We should be back on track beginning next Monday.

Mom and DadMom and Dad spent the holiday weekend at Gayle’s cottage and from the picture above it looks like they enjoyed themselves very much. Mom has some caffiene free soda and Dad is enjoying a bowl of ice cream.

The big news here today and from what I have read the big news world-wide is North Korea conducting yet another nuclear test. The headlines North Korean missile test site in today’s China Daily read: Pyongyang Nuclear Test Shocks Beijing.

The Chinese foreign ministry issued the following statement this morning:

"The DPRK ignored the opposition of the international community and once again conducted a nuclear test. The Chinese governmentNorth Korean nuclear test site is resolutely opposed to it. China has been firm and consistent in its stance to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. It is opposed to nuclear proliferation because it wants peace and stability to be maintained in northeast Asia and the world beyond."

To make matters worse or adding fuel to the fire the Hermit Kingdom also test fired a missile just hours after the testing its nuclear weapon. 

The picture above on the left is the missile test site and the picture on the right is the nuclear test site. Photos courtesy of Xinhua.

Miguel Cabrera

My Tigers got back on the winning track yesterday afternoon with a big Tiger Fan 13-1 rout of Kansas City. Justin Verlander pitched another great game giving up five hits and no runs in seven complete innings. Detroit was the loan team in the AL Central posting a win yesterday and when you are top that is exactly what you want to do. Detroit has two more games with KC before heading east and a long weekend series with Baltimore.

CENTRAL W L PCT GB HOME ROAD RS RA DIFF STRK L10
Detroit 25 18 .581 - 15-7 10-11 235 187 +48 Won 1 8-2
Kansas City 22 23 .489 4 14-11 8-12 191 199 -8 Lost 1 4-6
Minnesota 22 24 .478 4.5 17-10 5-14 243 235 +8 Lost 1 4-6
Chicago Sox 20 24 .455 5.5 12-10 8-14 184 212 -28 Won 1 5-5
Cleveland 18 28 .391 8.5 8-11 10-17 244 262 -18 Won 1 4-6

Today’s gospel and some comments:

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. ‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. John 17:1- 11

At the end of today’s gospel Jesus says, “And now I am no longer in the world....” A few verses later he will say, “I speak these things in the world” (that’s in tomorrow’s gospel passage). He is and isn’t in the world; he is present and yet somehow he already seems far away. He is speaking in an in-between time.

What he said was heart-warming, but also mind-numbing. He was speaking of the relationships between the Father, the Son and the Spirit, and of the disciples within this divine mystery. It is the language of love: “you in me”, and “I in you,” and “they will be one in us,” and “they were yours and you gave them to me,” and “the words you gave me,” and “I have given them,” etc. A short time before, the disciples were assuring him that they understood him perfectly. This would certainly remove any remaining false clarity.

Clarity can become an idol. It can become a substitute for the truth. We have to struggle so hard through the dark forest that when we see the first clearing we imagine it must be our destination. I knew a meditation teacher who always used a particular phrase when he talked about meditation. The phrase was: “dark to the mind, luminous to the heart.” False clarity tries to get a “fix” on something, and is little interested in pursuing it any further. It is usually an expression of the will to control: I want to know my bearings exactly so that my mind will not be stretched. False or premature clarity is a great enemy of the truth, because it looks like it. Confusion only looks like confusion: there’s truthfulness about it, and the truth will set me free. But false clarity will leave me pacing around inside a small space for the rest of my life. The mind is good at putting up fences and protecting them; it is the heart that strikes out beyond them.

Posted at 07:05 PM | | Comments (5)

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Monday, May 25, 2009

Memorial Day 2009

I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Memorial Day.  I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it.  We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did.  ~Benjamin Harrison

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Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored.  ~Daniel Webster

Happy Memorial Day to all my readers back in the USA!

Today got started in the usual way: an early morning walk, followed by mass in the chapel and then breakfast with a group of freshmen (the freshmen didn't show up so I ended up having breakfast with Alisa and Mark). The sun is rising these days at just about 4:00 a.m., another few weeks and the entire morning walk will be sunlit. Usually around the middle of June we see 3:00 a.m. sunrises.

Most of the day was spent in the classroom. I had spoken English all morning with the freshmen. This afternoon I had two periods of writing and two more periods of writing this evening. All these classes were with the first year nursing students.  Alisa and Mark were with me for the spoken English classes this morning and those two will be giving me a hand correcting the writing assignment the students did in class this afternoon and this evening.

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Mark and Alisa took some of the second year nursing students out for dinner last night and had a great time with them. I was suppose to join them for the meal, but a good friend is in the hospital, so I went to see her and missed the meal. Ma Huijuanr (far right above) won first place in a national English competition for college students; the meal was to congratulate her and celebrate her achievement along with her roommates.

SDC10198

In yesterday's blog I mentioned that the student volunteers from the Love Supermarket were starting a new tutoring program for disadvantages kids. They have been meeting and planning for the new program for quite some time. Yesterday they met with the first group of students and their guardians to launch the program. Below are a few pictures from the event.

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The program leaders.

DSCF1538The counselors.

DSCF1493Students, teachers, counselors and leaders.

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Here is a good picture of Lareina (陈硕）standing next to the artist's drawing of the college's new library that is under construction.

Library

The Maryknoll teachers (Rad, Jacqui and Kevin), Alisa, Mark and I are going to head out on Thursday with the freshmen for a day in the countryside (near the Songhua lake) to celebrate the Dragon Boat festival. Some of the freshmen leaders were in the office today making plans for the trip. We’ll get a couple of buses to take us out there, have lunch at a country restaurant, play some games and sing songs, have an evening barbeque and then come back to the campus at night. I’m really looking forward to that trip as it is definitely going to be a lot of fun.

partlycloudy
69° | 42°
 
sunny
86° | 55°
 
mostlysunny
87° | 60°
 
cloudy
78° | 55°
 
chancerain
64° | 46°
 

The weatherman says we’re in for some pretty good weather this week.

My Tigers have cooled down a bit after I mentioned that they were getting hot in Saturday’s blog. (Pride goeth before the fall.)  They dropped the rubber game of the weekend series to the Colorado Rockies 3-1, losing the final two games after winning the opener. They now begin a long road trip that starts in Kansas City with three games against the Royals.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

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

It was not the first time that disciples claimed to have perfect understanding. Earlier in the gospel Peter had said, ‘We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God’ (6:69). The same Peter also claimed to be ready to lay down his life for Jesus (13:37). Both claims proved to be more than a little premature.

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

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

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

Posted at 08:46 PM | | Comments (0)

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

An Absolutely Perfect Day in Jilin (May 24, 2009)

DSCN4105The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank. - Dante Gabriel Rossetti

I stayed up quite late last night working on a few talks for a retreat that I will be giving later this summer. I decided to skip the morning walk and started the day with a few cups of coffee while listening to the Tigers’ game. My sister and brother-in-law (Marcia and Steve) sent  some coffee with Mark and Alisa and I am enjoying that these days.

Members of the Love Supermarket (Our College’s version of the SVDP) were in and out of my office a good part of the morning. They are getting a new program underway (a tutoring program for poor students) and were meeting in the classroom next to my office that we use for English Corners and other extra-curricular activities. They are a great group of kids and it is always a privilege to work with them.

I had mass with Mark and Alisa at around 10:30 and then took a student to see Dr. Wang.

The GangA good number of students hung out in the office with Alisa and Mark this afternoon.

Ni Ke and Ao ZhilinNi Ke and Ao Zhilin (Two of my high school students)

Mark and Jiang FanMark and Jiang Fan

A few beautiesFour beauties!

Tomorrow morning I will put Alisa and Mark to work. I have a full morning of spoken English classes and those two are going to be with me. The students are looking forward to having some good chats with American college students of the same age.

My Tigers didn’t get an eighth straight win last night, as they lost 4-3 to Tiger Fan Colorado. They stranded the tying run at second in the bottom of the ninth. Detroit has done quite well so far this year in games where they score 3 or less runs. They lost last night, but they are 10-7 on the season. To give you an idea of what a difference one year can make, last year in games where they scored 3 runs or less the Tigers were 10-58. Forty games into this season and they have already matched last year’s win total in low scoring games.

The rubber game of the series with Colorado will be played tomorrow afternoon at Comerica.

Most of my Chinese readers have seen this story on TV or have read about it in one of the newspapers here. I am not sure if my readers back home have heard about this one.

Police try to talk him down

A guy whose business went bad climbs a bridge and threatens to commit suicide.

Not a Good SamaritanAnother guy who is angry about the bridge being closed for such a long time, climbs up the bridge and after shaking hands with the guy throws him off the bridge.

Not a Good Samaritan2Afterwards he salutes his fallen comrade.

A Big SurpriseThe victim luckily managed to survive, but has some serious injuries.

Today's gospel and some comments:

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: "Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth." John 17: 11-19

If you compare churches, the Salvation Army sort of stands out for emphasizing the selfless nature of true religion without forgetting the importance of personal holiness. Its founder, once said, "Without any boast, without any vanity, I can assure you that when I gave myself to God I did so more to save others than to save myself." That may sound strange to many of us who take it for granted that the primary, if not the only, purpose of being a Christian is to save our souls. If that is so, then what we read in today's gospel will also sound strange to us. Jesus declares: "And I consecrate myself for them."

"For them ", the man Jesus was totally committed to the welfare of others. When he stated the purpose of his life he said, “I came that they (others) may have life, and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Jesus had miraculous powers but he used those powers more to help others than to help himself. When people were hungry in a deserted place he multiplied bread to feed them, but when he was hungry in the desert he would not turn stones into bread to feed himself. Once he was tired and needed some rest. He took off in a boat to a place of retreat but on arriving there he found that the people had arrived before him looking for him. Seeing how these people looked like sheep without a shepherd, he immediately shelved his planned rest and began to minister to them. Concern for others was the hallmark of his life and ministry.

The understanding that the gospel demands that Christians be actively concerned for the material and spiritual well-being of the less fortunate of the world has given rise to what is called the social gospel. People who are involved in efforts to eradicate poverty and disease in their cities and in other parts of the world reflect the spirit of compassion and selfless interest in others that we see in Jesus. The first half of the statement: "For their sake I sanctify myself," underlines the fact that concern for others is at the very heart of the Christian gospel.

 "I consecrate myself:" The second part of the statement, on the other hand, underlines the fact that personal sanctification is an essential element in the whole business of being a Christian. It counterbalances the first. Jesus was always there for other people, yet he did not forget to sanctify himself. People who are so involved in helping others that they forget their own inner life with God see only one side of the coin. How can one be doing the work of the Lord and forget the Lord of the work? People who are actively involved in efforts to help other people must also cultivate an interior relationship with the Lord for their personal sanctification lest they get lost in activism. The social gospel, rightly understood, therefore, presumes the personal gospel of intimacy with the Lord.

Now, when we look around us what do we see? We see so many Christians who are so involved with their own personal salvation and holiness that they forget to show practical concern for the less privileged. Such Christians subscribe to the personal gospel while neglecting the social gospel. They are looking only at one side of the coin. We also know people who are involved in efforts for social justice and peace, who consider it a waste of time to pray or go to church. These subscribe to the social gospel and ignored the personal gospel. 

Which of the two is better, social gospel or personal gospel? Taken in isolation none of them is better. It is not a question of either-or but of both one and the other. For us, regular church going Christians the danger lies more in focusing too much on our own personal salvation and holiness to the neglect of active concern for others. To us, therefore, these words of Henry van Dyke are addressed: Who seeks for heaven alone to save his soul, May keep the path, he will not reach his goal; While he who walks in love may wander far, But God will bring him where the blessed are.

Posted at 05:27 PM | | Comments (1)

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Saturday, May 23, 2009

My Tigers Are Getting Hot!! (Saturday May 23, 2009)

Great Wall"No one knows what he is doing so long as he is acting rightly; but of what is wrong one is always conscious." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I started the day with an earlier than usual morning walk (had trouble sleeping) then came back to the apartment and slept for an hour or so before having mass and heading over to the office. At the office, I quickly checked my email and then went out to the sports field to spend some time with the students. I had to return to the office for a couple of meetings, but other than that I spent most of the day with the students.

DSCN4084Today was the second and final day of the 2009 college sports meet. The kids can really be proud of themselves as they really put on a great show this year. Kudos to the weatherman, too. We had almost perfect weather both days.

SDC10118Some of the pageantry of the annual Sports Meet.

DSCN4092Xu Feng from the Tianji Center stopped by with a few friends to say hello. Today's visitors are working to build up the lay apostolate in Asia. More on their work in upcoming blogs.

DSCN4094Some of the fifth year nursing students (presently doing internships) stopped by the office this afternoon to say hello. It was great to see them and hear some of their experiences from the past year.

SDC10138Mark and Alisa both got up late today.We were out late last night having some fun on the town. They have had a full schedule the last few days, so today was a good chance for them to catch up on sleep. Zhang Lu took them to McDonalds (Mark’s treat) for lunch today. They love Chinese food, but both of them had the urge for a quarter pounder today. 

This afternoon Cui Xinxin took them to get a massage. All reports seem to indicate that this will not be their last massage. They both enjoyed it!

DSCN4104This evening we got together with the young Maryknoll teachers for dinner. Rad, Kevin and Jacqui are all doing well. It was the first time that I Beijing_Marathon_2009_060 had seen the three of them since Rad ran in The Great Wall Marathon. They are all looking great. 

Kevin has some family members coming in June and he is excited about that and at the same time a little anxious to see how things will work out with the required quarantine of any foreigners wanting to visit Chinese campuses. Beijing_Marathon_2009_075

Rad did a great job last week running in and finishing the Great Wall Marathon. This marathon is considered one of, if not the toughest marathon going. The course includes some 7,000 steps on the Great Wall itself and a very hilly terrain. I am really proud of Rad as are her colleagues and students at Beihua University and the Maryknoll family here in China. 

The picture is of Rad as she approaches the finish line area and the picture on the right is pretty much worth a thousand words. 

CONGRATULATIONS RAD!!!!!!!!!

Brandon Inge homers in 4th

My Tigers continue to do well or as today's headline puts it: My Tigers are Getting Hot! Almost everything went Detroit's way last night as they extended their longest winning streak of the season.

Brandon Inge homered, Josh Anderson (Wang Wei's other autograph) made a great defensive play, twenty year-old Rick Porcello won his fourth straight start, and Detroit opened the weekend series against Colorado with a 4-3 win. My Tigers have now won seven in a row.

CENTRAL W L PCT GB HOME ROAD RS RA DIFF STRK L10
Detroit 24 16 .600 - 15-5 9-11 218 179 +39 Won 7 7-3
Kansas City 21 21 .500 4 14-10 7-11 187 179 +8 Lost 3 3-7
Minnesota 20 23 .465 5.5 15-9 5-14 226 224 +2 Won 2 4-6
Chicago Sox 18 23 .439 6.5 11-9 7-14 160 205 -45 Won 1 4-6
Cleveland 16 27 .372 9.5 7-11 9-16 223 242 -19 Lost 1 4-6

Today’s gospel and some comments:

The disciples said to Jesus, “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” Jn 16:29-33 

In today’s gospel the disciples claim to understand exactly what Jesus is talking about. I doubt if they really did. It will not be until later on that the full meaning of Jesus' words will be really be understood by these folks.

They were impressed that Jesus could answer their questions even before they are formulated. “Because of this we believe that you came from God.” Clearly they are way too optimistic as later actions would show that they didn’t understand at that point.

Jesus questioned the depth of their belief and not long after this happened they were scattered in all directions and basically left Jesus alone and abandoned. Of course, Jesus was never alone; the Father is always with him even at the lowest depths of his humiliation.

Jesus tells them these things not to discourage them, but so that they can find peace. There will be many troubles facing them in the coming days and indeed in the years ahead. They are not to worry: Jesus has conquered the world, not in any political or economic sense but in overcoming the evil of the world. His disciples can share in that victory, as long as they stay close to him and follow his teachings/ his way.

Posted at 09:40 PM | | Comments (2)

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Friday, May 22, 2009

Jilin Medical College 2009 Sports Meet.

Jilin Medical College Sports Meet

When politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained. - Edward R. Murrow

It has been a long day. I am just now getting around to blogging and it is almost midnight.

The weatherman cooperated and we got the 2009 Jilin Medical College Sports Meet off to a wonderful start. I have posted a number of pictures from the day below. 

Mark Alisa and O6 StudentsMark and Alisa were there for the opening ceremonies.

Mark and Alisa2They had a good time. They had to leave a little early as the technician came to hook up the Internet in their apartment.

I hung out with students for most of the day. The opening ceremony was once again very well done.

O8 NursingFreshmen nursing students getting ready to perform.

Flag 1

Flag 2

Flag 3The raising of the flag.

Brian and JoanBrian and Joan

Joan and MarciaJoan and Marcia

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Red Cross Medical Team

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Good Athletes

DSCN4087Good competition

Campus Couple

Good Friends.

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And at times a Good Rest

OLMH April 2009 Group

After a great day on the sports field, this evening the students and teachers who went to Hong Kong last month for the clinical placement at Our Lady of Maryknoll hospital had dinner together. Mark and Alisa also joined us for some good food, fellowship, singing and story telling.

We had a great meal at a local restaurant and then went out to sing karaoke. Mark and Alisa had a good time. Mark did some singing and Alisa did some listening!!! ^_^

With Wang Wei, Wang Minghong and 35,000 others in attendance on a beautiful afternoon at Comerica Park in Detroit, the Tigers won the final game of their three-game series against Texas 4-3. The Tigers have now swept the first two series with the Rangers this season. That also makes it six in a Granderson goes deep in the third row for  Detroit. The Tigers are now starting to put a few games between themselves and the rest of the AL Central.

Once again the Tigers got great pitching from the starter (Jackson), the needed help from the bullpen (Rodney) and enough runs to win. Cabrera had the winning hit with two outs in the bottom of the eighth (he is on-fire this season  with a .381 batting avg.). Curtis Granderson went deep yet again with a two-run shot in the third inning.

Wang Wei and Wang Minghong had great seats right behind the Texas Ranger dugout! Wang Wei was lucky enough to get a couple of autographs before the game. Among others she got the autograph of Tiger pitching star Justin Verlander.

Wang Wei has been to Comerica Park twice to see the Tigers play. They have won both times by scores of 4-3 and in both games Curtis Granderson homered. We are going to have to arrange for Wang Wei to see more Tiger games. ^_^

CENTRAL W L PCT GB HOME ROAD RS RA DIFF STRK L10
Detroit 23 16 .590 - 14-5 9-11 214 176 +38 Won 6 7-3
Kansas City 21 20 .512 3 14-10 7-10 187 174 +13 Lost 2 3-7
Minnesota 19 23 .452 5.5 14-9 5-14 215 221 -6 Won 1 4-6
Chicago Sox 17 23 .425 6.5 10-9 7-14 158 205 -47 Lost 1 3-7
Cleveland 16 26 .381 8.5 7-11 9-15 222 239 -17 Won 2 5-5

Tim Iding is reporting in his blog today, that his softball team has finally broken into the win column. In their third season (30th game overall) they finally did it. It took them a while, but when they finally got their act together it was a crushing 24-13 win. Tim describes it this way in his blog today: 

My softball team WON yesterday 24-13.  We are now proud owners of a 1 win - 29 loss record.  We played with great heart and hustle.  It was a total team effort with many players batting consistently and great field play all around.  I dove and slide a lot and I already cut a hole into the left knee of my brand new baseball pants.  I stopped the 3 hits that came my way at 2nd base including the final out for the win.  I went 3 for 5 batting and had 6 slides (2 outs, 4 being safe). 

Today’s gospel and some comments:

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.” John 16:20-23

Jesus said to his disciples, “On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen I say to you whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.” Paraphrasing this we could say, “When you see me again you won't be full of questions, you will be doing something: you will be interceding with the Father in my presence.”

Talking about religion can quickly turn into a heated debate. That is probably because it is much easier to talk about something than to actually take it to heart and do it. Talking often is a substitute for doing something and unfortunately for many their passion around religion, is more evident when they are talking than when they are doing. Thus we have so many heated debates.

A 19th-century British writer who later served as a Prime Minister, William Lamb, once said after hearing a sermon, “Things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade the sphere of private life.” One way to avoid the challenge of religion is to keep it out there in the public sphere, along with ceremonies like the Changing of the Guard. Another very successful way, paradoxically, is just the opposite, and it seems to be the preferred one today: make it so private that you no more need to give an account of it than you need to tell everyone about your bodily functions.

But Faith is something we do first and talk about afterwards, if we have to. I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day. A life of Faith that does not include a life of prayer (community and private prayer) and service to others, is only talk. Oscar Wilde said that talking was the only form of exercise he ever took. Sad, but true, he is not alone.

Posted at 11:36 PM | | Comments (0)

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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Final Preparations for the 2009 Jilin Medical College Sports Meet. (May 21, 2009)

Great WallUnder capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite. – John Kenneth Galbraith

I started the day with the morning walk followed by mass in the chapel. I then hung around the apartment for a while as there was no breakfast in the office today. Instead of having a group of freshmen come to the office, Alisa, Mark and I went to the freshmen nursing students’ classroom and I introduced Alisa and Mark to the whole class. That went well.

Most of the morning was spent in my office working on stuff to help get the freshmen ready for the upcoming national exam. I want to make good use of Alisa and Mark and now that they are here and out of quarantine we need to get going. 

The plan for today was to get as much done as possible, as the next three days will be tied up with the college’s sports meet and a few meals to welcome my visitors.

Fr. Wang Guosheng stopped by the office this morning to go over a few things. He will be heading down to Hong Kong next week or the week after for some training related to his work at the Tianji Center. He is doing well and looking good.

Mark and Alisa had their first Chinese lesson this morning. Liu Bo came over and taught them some basic survival Chinese. They will be having daily Chinese class for the first few weeks. I got a report at lunchtime on how things went and they seemed to have had a good time.

Yesterday afternoon Liu Bo took Alisa and Mark out on a quick tour of Jilin City. Once they get a few landmarks down and know the bus routes they will be able to set out on their own for some Jilin adventures. The riverwalk is my favorite spot in the city and it is a beehive of activity once the sun goes down.

We had more fun at lunch today. Jingmei cooked a chicken dish (one of my DSCN4041 favorites) and we had some spicy radish dish that really tasted good. The students were free this afternoon so they were looking forward to a nap after the meal. With the weather warming up in this part of the Middle DSCN4042 Kingdom, milkshakes have replaced milk tea as the after lunch drink. Mark and Alisa are already big fans of the student dining hall milk shake stand!

Those two went out shopping after lunch and then stopped by the office on their way home and spent an hour or so chatting with a group of students.

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Alisa and Mark with a gang of students this afternoon.

Alisa’s brother Jimmy is becoming a regular contributor to this blog’s comments section. It is always good to hear from you, Jimmy!!

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Zhang Lu has been stopping by the office each day to study in preparation for his second IELTS exam. He used Wang Wei's computer and spent a little time reading The Great Wall, which to his surprise had a few pictures of him on it yesterday.

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The students were pretty busy this afternoon getting ready for the opening ceremony of tomorrow's sports meet. (Full professors get a salute! ^_^) The opening ceremony of the sports meet each year is always well done. I imagine that tomorrow's opening ceremony will be no exception. Pictured above is the color guard for this year's flag raising at the opening ceremony.

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First year nursing students drilling for tomorrow's parade.

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David has been pretty busy getting ready for his internship which will begin about a month from now. His office visit today was most welcomed!!

I had a meeting in the office this evening with the freshmen class reps. We are planning to head out for an outing next week during the Dragon Boat Festival's three-day break. Tonight's meeting was to talk over some options. Things are looking good for a picnic trip to Songhua Lake next Thursday.

Comerica Park1I heard from Wang Wei today. She and Wang Minghong will be heading to Comerica Park (the Mecca of the West) tomorrow to watch the Detroit Tigers play the Texas Rangers. Those two are very lucky ladies. Many Chinese students go to the US to study, but only a small percentage get the chance to see the Tigers play; even fewer get the chance to see the Tigers play in Comerica Park. ^_^

My Tigers made if five in a row last night defeating the Texas Rangers 5-3 at Comerica. Justin Verlander pitched six strong innings and the bullpen held the lead. I don’t want to jinx the Tigers, but they do seem Wilkin Ramirez to have found their groove over the past two weeks. A couple late inning (final inning) losses at Minneapolis last week may have been exactly what we needed. They have played almost flawless baseball since leaving Minnesota.

Wilkin Ramirez became the first Tigers player in 35 years to homer in his Major League debut, blasting a homer to the deepest part of Comerica Park and starting a four-run sixth inning rally that won the game for Detroit. Ramirez who was called up to fill a roster spot while Maglio Ordonez is on bereavement leave has been ripping the cover off the ball later in Triple A play. He most likely won’t stay on the active roster once Ordonez returns, but he certainly made the most out of his first appearance in a Major League game.

CENTRAL W L PCT GB HOME ROAD RS RA DIFF STRK L10
Detroit 22 16 .579 - 13-5 9-11 210 173 +37 Won 5 7-3
Kansas City 21 19 .525 2 14-9 7-10 184 166 +18 Lost 1 3-7
Minnesota 18 23 .439 5.5 14-9 4-14 195 220 -25 Lost 6 3-7
Chicago Sox 17 22 .436 5.5 10-8 7-14 157 185 -28 Won 2 3-7
Cleveland 15 26 .366 8.5 7-11 8-15 214 236 -22 Won 1 4-6

Today’s gospel and some comments:

‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.’ Then some of his disciples said to one another, ‘What does he mean by saying to us, “A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me”; and “Because I am going to the Father”?’ They said, ‘What does he mean by this “a little while”? We do not know what he is talking about.’ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, ‘Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, “A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me”? Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. John 16: 16-20

The word for 'a little while' (mikron) is used seven times in this relatively short passage. Something is about to happen soon, but they don’t know what. This is a good way to get scared. They can tell that it has something to do with death: the word here for 'mourn' is a word that is used for grief at a death.

‘You will have sorrow, but your sorrow will turn into joy.’ He did not say it would be replaced by joy, but it that it would turn into joy. Joy will not come by repressing sorrow, but by allowing it to be transformed.

If I repress sorrow it does not go away; it is still there, working in me like a silent cancer, sapping my vitality from within. And my 'joy' will have a quality of desperation; it will only be a mask for fear, sort of like leaving the radio playing in the dark. I will be in the impossible situation of someone trying to run away from himself. It is only by looking into the heart of sorrow that I can find real joy. This contradicts common sense, but that is what you can expect from the Gospel.

The Resurrection happened in the heart of the tomb. This is the heart of our faith, and if the heart isn’t beating, the body is dead. We have a lot of cheap knowledge: knowledge that has not been bought at the full price of experience. It is easy to sign up to a list of beliefs; it’s as easy as saying ok. But everyone knows only one or two things really. We know the dying and rising of Christ to the extent that our own life is being shaped by it, no more, no less. The disciples made an honest admission, ‘We don’t know what he is talking about.’ That is always the first step in understanding: to understand how little we know.

Posted at 09:29 PM | | Comments (2)

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Back to Business! (Wednesday May 20, 2009)

The Great Wall of China

Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed. – Sir Winston Churchill

Things started getting back to normal here today. I began the day with my morning walk (Mark got up and joined me) followed by mass in the chapel before coming to the office to have breakfast with a huge group of students.

The students were happy to have me back in the office and it felt very good to be back in my office.

Mark went back to sleep after the walk and got up later to join Alisa for a Jingmei cooked breakfast.

This morning, Laura, from the foreign affairs office took Mark and Alisa over to the public security office to register them as my guests.

I spent most of the morning in the office (I slipped out for about half an hour to get a haircut) working on upcoming lectures and a few retreat talks that I will be giving this summer.

DSCN4037We had lunch at the apartment with a group of second year nursing students. Walking this morning felt good, but I think I'm going to need to do a little dieting after that one week of sitting around and doing nothing but eating and playing games.

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After lunch the gang headed over to the student dining hall for the traditional after lunch milk shake or milk tea. ^_^

Both Alisa and Mark like Chinese food, so they are very comfortable with the food they’ve been getting. This evening I gave them my meal card and they went to one of the student dining halls with a couple of students to learn their way around that place. The dining hall is open 7 days a week from 6:00 a.m. till around 9:30 p.m. If Mark or Alisa want a change of pace or some night snacks knowing how to use the meal card can be a big help.

The ‘infamous one’ and Suzy stopped by the office today to see how I was doing.

Marina and Suzy on Arrival

They were taking no chances when they arrived. ^_^

Marina and SuzyAfter I assured them that I was not carrying any swine-flu virus they lightened up a bit. ^_^

DSCN4035This is a four-day week here at the medical college. The college is holding the annual Track and Field Meet (运动会) on Friday and Saturday. I always look forward to this event as the competition is pretty good, the opening ceremony is always beautiful and year after year it is a great time to have fun with the kids outside the classroom.

partlycloudy
84° | 60°
 
partlycloudy
78° | 57°
 
chancerain
59° | 44°
 
sunny
86° | 57°
 
mostlysunny
86° | 60°
 

The weather forecast does not look good for Friday. I hope the weatherman is wrong as a rainout on the first day really puts a damper on the festivities. Over the years it is surprising how many of these have had rainouts or rain delays.

My Tigers got a great pitching performance from Dontrelle Willis last Dontrelle Willis night and opened their series with the Texas Rangers on the right foot. Willis pitched one-hit ball into the seventh inning. Four Tiger relievers combined with D-Train for a one hit shutout against baseball’s highest scoring team and Detroit won 4-0.

Willis was a big (huge/enormous) disappointment last year after coming over to Detroit from the Florida Marlins. He had some leg problems that caused control problems and saw limited action last season. He is now looking like he might be back to his old self and if that is true it will be huge for the Tigers. The win was the D-Train's first as a Tiger.

CENTRALWLPCTGBHOMEROADRSRADIFFSTRKL10
Detroit2116.568-12-59-11205170+35Won 47-3
Kansas City2118.538114-87-10179160+19Won 23-7
Minnesota1822.4504.514-94-13191213-22Lost 54-6
Chicago Sox1622.4215.59-87-14150181-31Won 13-7
Cleveland1426.3508.57-117-15208231-23Lost 43-7

I'm going to post this blog now and head down to the hospital to see a good friend's daughter who had emergency surgery this afternoon.

Today's gospel and some comments: 

‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. John 16: 12-15

Someone said hindsight is always 20/20. But hindsight is what you don’t have at the time.

 In simple matters of fact hindsight is a simple thing: you can see within the hour that you backed the wrong horse – or within seconds that you said the wrong thing. But in deeper matters, hindsight is a slow process of realization. The Holy Spirit gives hindsight on Jesus. This is the Spirit working in us, the patient inner teacher, opening our minds slowly to the light that has long since come into the world. 

“The Spirit will guide you into all truth,” that is, all the truth about God. The Son has revealed the Father, and now the Spirit will reveal the Father by revealing the Son. We are being attracted by the Spirit into the inner life of God. 

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” The disciples to whom these words were addressed had the best of excuses for not having hindsight: the event had not taken place yet. The event was the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. They could not possibly have understood him at that time, except as a remarkable man.

When disciples of any age consider Jesus without the guidance of the Spirit, that is what they find: a remarkable man. There were so many boring things written in the 19th century about the ‘moral excellence’ of Jesus.... This would only get him a place among the Pharisees. It is the Spirit alone that can draw us into the mind of Jesus.

Posted at 07:43 PM | | Comments (2)

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The Quarantine is Over..... Back to a Normal Life!!! (May 19, 200)

Maryknoll Headquarters Scene

We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never deceived us. - Samuel Johnson

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Mark cooked Alisa some oatmeal to get the day started.

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Alisa started the day by replying to some text messages from students while waiting for her oatmeal.

The quarantine is over! The quarantine is over!! The quarantine is over!!! For me it is a good feeling; for my visitors it is a great feeling. Mark and Alisa finally got to see the campus of Jilin Medical College and a few sites in Jilin City today. More importantly they finally got to meet some of my students, colleagues and friends.

Our last morning of quarantine was spent (most of it at least) chatting online with family and friends back in Michigan. We started off with my sister, Carol. Then we chatted with Mark's parent's and brother and my Mom and Dad and Jan. Tim Iding, Wang Wei and Wang Minghong finished off the morning line-up. That was a lot of fun.

We had lunch shortly after noon. We waited around for the CDC representative to arrive before leaving the apartment. After all the paper work was taken care of I gave Alisa and Mark a quick tour of the campus. We made a stop at my office and then went to the Bank of China so they could change some money. Liu Bo came over and took Mark and Alisa down to the main shopping area to do some shopping, have dinner and see the night market.

I spent some time this evening in my office hanging out with students. Mark and Alisa didn't get back until it was quite late.

A front page story in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano today has probably Ob romano pleased the administration at Notre Dame and upset more than a few dozen US bishops.The article doesn't mention the protests at Notre Dame on Sunday nor does it mention that dozens of U.S Catholic bishops denounced ND for honoring Obama because his abortion rights record clashes with fundamental church teaching. Instead the article quotes President Obama as inviting all Americans to work together to reduce the number of abortions and unwanted pregnancies, and concluded he was searching for common ground on the "delicate question of abortion."

The article also takes time to give the new president a postive evaluation for his first 100 days.

In short the Vatican is going out of their way to make a point that they sort of agree with the position pushed by the president in his speech. Namely there is indeed a need for some common ground.

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Jiajia may have come up with the best method going for weight management. Eat your meal while standing on the scale! I gave her a chicken leg at lunchtime and she took it to the room and ate it while sitting on the scale.

My Tigers had the day off. Chicago and Minnesota both got swept over the weekend opening up a little bit of space between the Tigers/Royals and the rest of the AL Central. Tiger Fan Detroit opens a three-game series with the AL West's top team the Texas Rangers tonight in Detroit as they continue their nine game homestand. The homestand ends this weekend with inter-league play against Colorado.

Looking ahead to the month of June, my Tigers (and the rest of the AL Central) are going to play 15 games over two plus weeks against the NL Central teams. Detroit will play Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Chicago Cubs, Houston and St. Louis during that stretch. Those 15 games could go a long way towards determining this year's AL Central champ.

Today's gospel and some comments:

But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. John 16:5-11

Here Jesus sounds more like a visitor than someone who took on our nature and became one of us forever. ‘It is to your advantage that I go away.” We have to try to understand how it is to our advantage. “If I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you,” he added. Rather than clarifying it, however, this makes it more obscure. How could the continued presence of Jesus hinder the coming of the Spirit, the Paraclete?

In John’s gospel, the Paraclete is the continued presence of Jesus. Henceforth it is through the Spirit that we know Jesus. The Spirit, the ‘Advocate’, he said, “will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you”. Jesus is withdrawing his visible presence, but his Spirit remains with us.

 “It is to your advantage that I go away.” How is it an advantage? This is what we have to try to understand. If we assemble a few ordinary experiences we may get an approach to it.

Every teacher, sooner or later, has to stand back. If a teacher stays at your side forever, there are important things you never learn: independence, mental courage, an inner vigor that can only come from taking your own risks... In other words, you have to learn from your own experience, and that is what a good teacher always sends you back to in the end. Parents, too, have to learn to stand back. The children of parents with very strong personalities are often passive and weak. Whenever you see a powerful leader, look at what his leadership is doing to his followers. He may think he is “strengthening the brethren,” but this is exactly the blind spot of an extravert. Jesus has the wisdom to trust us, even though we make mistakes. He wants to inspire us from within, not to control us from without.

Posted at 09:13 PM | | Comments (1)

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Monday, May 18, 2009

One More Day of Quarantine to Go! (May 18, 2009)

Quarantine"Nothing has an uglier look to us than reason, when it is not on our side." - George Savile

We are down to our last day of the quarantine period. (It will all be over tomorrow afternoon at 1:20) Needless to say, it will be very nice when it ends and things get back to normal here in this part of the Middle Kingdom. It isn't all bad and in fact for the most part it has been a very relaxing schedule around here the past week.

Mark and Alisa spent most of the day watching movies and playing board games. We had lunch and dinner together, but I was kept busy working on a couple of upcoming talks that I need to put together.

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These two are definitely looking forward to some additional freedom tomorrow. They have a list of things they want to do and places they want to see. Basically they just want to get out and breath some fresh air.

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Mark called home yesterday and Alisa called home this evening.

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Alisa is an art major at MSU and likes painting. She is impressed by some of Liu Xin's painting that hang on the apartment wall. Liu Xin is now in his second year of junior high. His painting career came to an end two years ago when his mom (Jingmei) decided that painting was not as important as physics, chemistry and math. ^_^ Alisa strongly disagrees. (Above is one of Liu Xin's paintings....and I sort of agree with Alisa!)

A few listeners from the radio show called this morning and afternoon to wish me well. That was nice!

Fr

President Obama journeyed to South Bend yesterday to address the 2009 graduating Obama receives honorary doctorate at ND class of Notre Dame. Much has been said about the invitation to have President Obama give the commencement address and receive an honorary doctorate from the university. I have made my opinion on the topic known in previous posts. I do want to share with you at this time a very interesting article from America magazine. If you have time be sure to read Sectarian Catholicism.

It is now official. President Barack Obama has selected one of the top GOP governors to serve as the new US ambassador to China. Governor JohnAmbassador Huntsman  Huntsman of Utah accepted the post that Obama called "as important as any in the world today."

Today's NY Times has a good article on then new ambassador and his background.

Governor Huntsman is married with seven children, the youngest adopted from China. Huntsman said of his appointment: “When the president of the United States asks you to step up and serve in a capacity like this, that to me is the end of the conversation and the beginning of the obligation to rise to the challenge.”

Granderson Three run shot

I stayed up late and listened to My Tigers play an afternoon game against the Oakland A's. The Tigers got the win and swept the series. Unlike the first two games of the series, Detroit had to come from behind in this one. Five first inning runs put the Tigers in a hole (they were down 6-0 at one point), but the big bats have been booming as of late and they came back for an 11-7 win. Detroit ended up with something like 34 runs in the three game series against the A's. They will have a rest day today before opening a three-game midweek series against the AL West leading Texas Rangers on Tuesday.

ENTRALWLPCTGBHOMEROADRSRADIFFSTRKL10
Detroit2016.556-11-59-11201170+31Won 36-4
Kansas City2018.526113-87-10173155+18Won 13-7
Minnesota1820.474314-94-11183200-17Lost 35-5
Chicago Sox1521.41758-87-13142176-34Lost 43-7
Cleveland1425.3597.57-117-14203225-22Lost 33-7

Today's gospel and some comments:

‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. ‘I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them. ‘I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. John 15: 26- 16:4

St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, ‘We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles'. What Christians proclaim is an event that has taken place, not a religious system or simply a ‘message’. The New Testament is neither a collection of thoughtful essays nor an attempt to construct a system of ethics. It bears witness to a unique history, and it discovers the truth in the history. Paul once tried the way of sweet reason, but people only laughed at him. It may have been at that moment that he found his own voice. From that point on he would proclaim “Christ and him crucified,” the event that was the life and death of Jesus.

This is why eyewitness and testimony are crucial. Philosophical arguments and theories, while they may propose faith to you, can never bring you there. Some people are hindered rather than helped by them. A scholarly lady said to a colleague of mine, “It was Aquinas’s proofs for the existence of God that brought me into the Church.” “I’m happy for you,” replied my friend, “they almost drove me out of it!” Philosophical arguments, by their very nature, express scepticism and chosen limits to what one is prepared to accept. In some periods of history there was a wide streak of rationalism in theology that alienated many and boxed up the faith in a suffocating system. Some of this still exists. The faith is not plausible, and any account of it that makes it so is throwing away the kernel of it. There is nothing plausible about existence, or the world, or God, or the Incarnation, or the death of Jesus, or his resurrection…. What we proclaim is not a plausible account of life, a ‘philosophy for the millions,’ made palatable by striking images and stories, but a series of extraordinary events: the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

“You are witnesses of these things,” said Jesus (Luke 28:48). This was spoken to “the eleven and their companions.” But ultimately it is spoken to every disciple. We are to witness what the Spirit, the ‘Advocate’, has witnessed to us in our hearts and in our lives, among the community of believers. We are to speak from experience.

Posted at 08:31 PM | | Comments (3)

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Sunday, May 17, 2009

Day Five of Quarantine!! (Sunday May 17th, 2009)

Jilin City-Songhua River
Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book. - Edward Gibb
DSCN4021All continues to go well here with Alisa, Mark and I. Today is the fifth day of our quarantine and I am definitely looking forward to this being history. I'm sure that Alisa and Mark share my feelings! ^_^
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Mark tried calling home to see if he could get some assistance in ordering a video game.
DSCN4016Alisa got online to see if she could find someone to chat with! 
Our Lady's Chapel In JilinWe had mass together this morning in the chapel, which was by far the highlight of the day. 

Jilin Chemical1

There is an interesting news story developing here. Last month and again earlier this month a number of people in the northern part of Jilin City went to hospitals complaining of headaches and dizziness. Over 1000 people went to hospitals with some 160 being admitted. Nobody was sure what the problem was, but it appeared to be related to  some-kind-of-gas poisoning. 

Jilin Chemical 2

Health officials were called in from the provincial center in Changchun as well as Beijing. After weeks of looking into the problem  government health officials have concluded (much to the displeasure of locals) that the problem is psychosomatic! Needless to say those admitted to hospitals are not buying that line at all. I will try to keep my readers informed as this story develops.

GWM1  Rad (not in the picture above) ran in The Great Wall Marathon yesterday. She was able to finish the grueling race with a time of six hours and thirty minutes. This race which is run along the Great Wall and includes something like 7,000 steps is billed as the toughest marathon going. Nobody is going to argue with that or at least not me. Rad has been training for this marathon since last fall and she really worked hard. A number of times she ran over to our campus for the Friday night English Corner. She did a great job and I want to acknowledge her hard work on today's blog. Hopefully we will have some official photos of Rad's marathon on this blog later in the week.

RadHere she is in a pre-run photo.

In what is (for me) very welcome news, a number of papers are reporting today Governor Huntsman that Utah's Republican governor Jon Huntsman is going to be named by President Obama as the new US ambassador to China. Gov. Huntsman is fluent in Mandarin and a China scholar. His dealings with China go back to the days when he did his Mormon mission in Taiwan.

Three years ago he addressed the students at Shanghai Normal University saying, "The United States and China must be good examples and stewards of the Earth. We must match economic progress with environmental stewardship. The effects of industrialization are felt worldwide."

Personally, I can't think of a better choice for this position!!! This makes me very happy, indeed!

My Tigers went ballistic against Oakland in that rain delayed game on Tigers Win Friday night. A 14-1 win highlighted by two grand slams (Raynor and Inge) is a good way to start a home stand. Last night they did it again winning 9-1. The Tigers have outscored the A's 23-2 in the first two games of the series. Detroit has another game against Oakland tomorrow afternoon before hosting the Texas Rangers for a three-game series early next week. Next weekend is inter-league play with the Colorado Rockies coming to Comerica Park for a weekend series against my Tigers.

The two wins over Oakland have my Tigers sitting alone atop the AL Central. 

CENTRALWLPCTGBHOMEROADRSRADIFFSTRKL10
Detroit1916.543-10-59-11190163+27Won 26-4
Kansas City1918.514112-87-10166151+15Lost 13-7
Minnesota1819.486214-94-10181197-16Lost 25-5
Chicago Sox1520.42948-87-12140168-28Lost 33-7
Cleveland1424.3686.57-117-13198218-20Lost 23-7

Today's gospel and some comments:


As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. John 15: 9-17

How can you be commanded to love?  Surely love has to be a free response, not an obligation.  You can be commanded to obey, but how can you be commanded to love?  How could Jesus say, "This is my commandment, that you love one another?" 

Meister Eckhart threw some light on this issue.  He said, "When I am thirsty, the drink commands me; when I am hungry, the food commands me. And God does the same (when he commands me to love)."  In other words, the command to love is not a command that is laid on us from the outside; it is an inner command, an inner urgency placed in our very being by God – like hunger and thirst. It is not something alien, it is totally our own, and yet it is totally from God – because God is totally our own. If God is totally ours, then God's commands are totally ours. 

Probably all of us grew up with the belief that God was somewhere else, not here; that heaven was a place where God lived far away.  Any communication from such a God would be an intrusion from the outside.  Certainly we also said that God was everywhere, but these two thoughts may never have overlapped or touched each other at all.  If we also had the wrong kind of fear of God, we may then have imagined him everywhere in the way that a controlling headmaster is 'everywhere' in the school – meaning that no matter what you did, he found out about it. 

Our thoughts and feelings about God are always in need of a great deal of healing.  This should be happening naturally, and through the grace of God, in the course of our daily life, but prayer and meditation are the favoured place for it to happen.  There the experience of the day is sifted without interference and comes around slowly into the right perspective.  We can confidently hope to be able to enjoy our faith.  Meister Eckhart again: "If anyone commands me to do that which is pleasant, which avails me or on which my bliss depends, that is exceedingly sweet to me."

Joy is very close to the heart of our faith.  Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and wants to draw us into his own joy.  Paul mentions joy as a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).  St Thomas Aquinas wrote, "Since the enjoyment of God…surpasses the power of all creatures, it follows that this complete and perfect joy does not enter into us but rather we enter into it. 'Enter into the joy of your Lord' (Matthew 25.21)." 

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Saturday, May 16, 2009

MAY 16, 2009

Jilin City-Songhua River
The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not. - Eric Hoffert 

There isn't too much to report on other than our body temperatures remain around 36.5 degrees and we are all doing well. ^_^

Alisa and Mark are watching some movies this morning and I just finished a bunch of emails. One good thing about a seven-day quarantine period with access to the Internet is that you can definitely catch up on emails.

My Tigers are presently waiting out a rain-delay in the top of the fifth inning. With the Tigers on top 9-1 and playing at home you can bet that game is going to be completed no matter how long they have to wait. 

I'm going to post today's blog early as I plan to do some reading and sleeping this afternoon.

Today's gospel and some comments:

‘If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, “Servants are not greater than their master.” If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. John 15: 18-21

There must be some dividend in hate; otherwise why would so many people invest so much time and energy in such a destructive passion?  There is some secret satisfaction in hatred.  

            There’s nothing in this world so sweet as love,
            And next to love the sweetest thing is hate.  (Longfellow)

When you love, you lose yourself in some sense; you forget yourself, you take leave of the ego.  But hatred strengthens the ego by strengthening the sense of separation.  In a word, you feel you really exist when you hate; and perhaps this is the secret dividend.  And there is an illusion of being equal to the thing you hate.  It is a caricature of the equality in love.  If you hate an individual, you appear to be that individual’s equal. If you hate a whole class of people, you are almost an archetype! 

Love needs to understand hatred if it is to escape its contagion.  Much of its work consists in dismantling structures of hatred.  That means dismantling the ego, and that is dangerous work! 

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Friday, May 15, 2009

Hanging Out in Jilin City (May 15, 2009)

DSCN4006Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose. - Garrison Keillor

If there is a big winner in this quarantine deal it definitely is my cat Jiajia. She hasn't seen this much of me in the past six months. On second thought she might be the big loser!! ^_^

Basically the only thing we need to do these days is to check our temperatures twice a day and give reports to Jilin CDC over the phone twice a day. A health officer shows up at the apartment each afternoon to make sure all is well.

The college calls each morning to see what we want to eat for the day. Students send text messages throughout the day to say hello and check on how we are doing and the number of phone calls is quite surprising. I think most of Jilin knows of our situation. I think my radio show co-host is behind that!!!

The three of us had a pretty good day. The highlight of the day was probably the food we ate! For lunch we had some spicy chicken wings, friend fish and a western salad; this evening we had dumplings and a cold dish. So far Mark and Alisa are pretty happy with the food they are getting here at the Brian Hilton.

 We aim to please!!

Alisa, Mark and I finished correcting the students’ journals today. It was a good experience for Alisa and Mark as it gave both of them a pretty good idea of my students' English level as well as some of the stuff the students are interested in. Both Alisa and Mark were impressed with the students' writing skills.

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We played a game of Scrabble this afternoon. The Scrabble Queen is Alisa.

DSCN4014Mark has yet to win a game. He knows all the answers to the science questions until he gets a chance to score on a question. His spelling leaves a little to be desired and we aren't sure if we will let him correct the students' spelling in the weeks ahead.

 For sure both Mark and Alisa are being good scouts!! It is just wonderful to have my nephew and Alisa here these days. By the middle of next week we should be good to go and I can begin to introduce both of them to my students, colleagues and many Jilin friends.

My Tigers went to Minnesota and left after being swept by the Twins in a mid-Tiger Fan week three game series. The Twins came from behind to win the final two games of the series. For Detroit it seemed to be a case of what Yogi Berra used to call: De-ja vu all over again!

The good news for Detroit is that they remain in first place in the AL Central albeit their lead is now next to nothing. The Tigers now head home for a nine game stand.

Felicia's Fight

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It has been a while since I mentioned Felicia, but do keep her and her battle against Breast Cancer in your prayers!

Today’s  and some comments: 

‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. John 15: 12-17

A wicked man, about to die, meets an angel at the gates to Hell.  The angel says to him: "It is enough for you to have done one good thing in your life, and that will help you.  Think hard.” The man remembers that one time, as he was walking through a forest, he saw a spider in his path and detoured so as not to step on it. The angel smiles and a spider web comes down from the sky, allowing the man to ascend to Paradise.  Others among the condemned take advantage of the web, and begin to make the climb.  But the man turns on them and begins to push them off, fearing that the web will break.  At that moment, it breaks, and the man is once again returned to Hell. "What a pity," he hears the angel say.  "Your concern with yourself turned the only good thing you ever did into evil." 

Mde Guyon, the 17th-century French mystic, wrote: "Those in the highest state of religious experience desire nothing, except that God may be glorified in them by the accomplishment of His holy will.  Nor is it inconsistent with this, that saintly people possess that natural love which exists in the form of self-love.  Their natural love, however, which, within its proper degree, is innocent love, is so absorbed in the love of God, that it ceases, for the most part, to be a distinct object of consciousness; and practically and truly they may be said to love themselves IN and FOR God.  Adam, in his state of innocence, loved himself, considered as the image of God and living for God.  So that we may either say, that he loved God in himself, or that he loved himself IN and FOR God.  And it is because saintly people, extending their affections beyond their own limit, love their neighbor on the same principle of loving, namely, IN and FOR God, that they may be said to love their neighbors as themselves. It does not follow, because the love of ourselves is lost in the love of God, that we are to take no care, and to exercise no watch over ourselves.  No man will be so seriously and constantly watchful over himself as he who loves himself IN and FOR God alone." 

The ego requires fight if it is to exist.  If it’s not fighting it can't exist.  So even when there is no one there to fight with, you fight with someone in your mind.  The ego isn’t in you; it’s between you and another.  It’s nothing in you.  In real love there’s no ego, because there’s no fight.  Yet are not lovers often fighting!  Yes.  Their being longs for love, their egos long for fight; so they do both, by turns! 

 

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Thursday, May 14, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIMOTHY IDING (May 14, 2009)

Misquotations are the only quotations that are never misquoted. Hesketh Pearson 

I Begin today's blog with special birthday greetings for Timothy Iding. Long time 6a00d8341c83a053ef00e54f52889b8833-500wi blog readers and former students remember that China Tim, came and lived with me here in the Middle Kingdom for a year and change. It was one of the better years of my life and it rates right up there near the top on the priesthoodmeter.

Tim spent most of the past year at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit. He is now looking to begin a masters program in scripture at Loyola University in Chicago. 

On his special day I want to send special greetings to one of my best friends and a real Friend of China! Happy Birthday Tim! Ad multos Annos!!

Today was the first full day of the quarantine. I think it  went quite well. Especially for me!!

DSCN4008With Alisa and Mark basically looking for something to keep them busy, I was able to be a big help. I just pulled out the freshmen writing assignments (papers and journals) gave each of them a red pen and let them go to work. This quarantine business may not be as bad as it looks. ^_^ They knocked off the papers today and we are ready to attack the journals tomorrow.

Later this afternoon we played a game of Trivial Pursuit (Brian won),followed by a game of Monopoly(Brian won again). I pretty much owned and was developing the entire board (picture below) when the end finally game for Alisa (Mark went bankrupt very early).

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DSCN4012Both Mark and Alisa were a little embarrassed by what happened in the game.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. John 15: 9-17

Matthias might seem to have arrived when it was all over.  After the Ascension he was chosen by lot to fill the place left by Judas.  Peter made a speech: “’One of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us – one of these must become a witness  with us to his resurrection….’  And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles” (Acts 1:15-26). 

It might seem that he arrived late, but in fact he was part of it from the very beginning of Jesus’ public life till the end; however, he is not mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament.  He played second fiddle – a vital position.  And just as he came from obscurity he vanished into it again.  There was an apocryphal tradition that he preached the Gospel in Ethiopia, but it cannot be substantiated.  And there was a lost apocryphal Gospel of Matthias, mentioned by Origen and other early Christian writers. 

It would be interesting to know more, but when you have mentioned that someone was a disciple of Jesus you have said the essential thing.

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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Mark and Alisa Arrive in China. (May 13, 2009)

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"No one knows what he is doing so long as he is acting rightly; but of what is wrong one is always conscious." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe  

The past twenty-four hours have seen a whirlwind of activity here in Jilin. I’ll try and give you a little idea of what has been happening. 

Mark and Alisa arrived safely this morning at the Changchun airport. Their flight actually touched down almost half an hour early, which is not bad on a flight that is scheduled for one hour and forty minutes. Mark seemed to think the Asiana pilot was pushing the envelope! 

Last weekend a Chinese student (coming home from St. Louis ) arrived in China with the first confirmed case of swine flu in China. Yesterday afternoon a student returning from Canada became the second confirmed case of swine flu here in the Middle Kingdom. Since then the health ministry has been very pro-active in trying to control any spread of the disease in-country. 

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Since Mark and Alisa were on flights from Chicago to LA, LA to Seoul, and Seoul to Changchun; the Chinese CDC decided to quarantine them for 7 days before allowing them DSCN4000 on campus. If they were not coming on campus there would have been no problem.The plan that we agreed on last night was to quarantine them at the Century Hotel ( A Five-Star hotel in Jilin City) for seven days. This morning, however, leaders here felt that Mark and Alisa would be very uncomfortable by themselves for seven days, so a new plan was hatched. What is happening now is that Mark and Alisa are living with me and all three of us are in quarantine for seven days. We are here in my apartment and we can have meals together, watch movies, play games, etc. I think we are going to have a great time!

Our temperatures are taken twice a day to watch for any signs of a fever. The provincial CDC and Jilin Medical College are taking very good care of us.

DSCN3994I am on a one week vacation which isn't bad. I will have the students turn in journals this weekend and have Mark and Alisa give me a hand correcting them.

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Zhang Jingmei is on vacation for a week as she can't have contact with us. She is obviously very disappointed about that!! ^_^ In the meantime Mark is doing some cooking. He cooked lunch and it wasn't too bad.

Maybe the worst part is that the students will have to wait a week to meet Mark and Alisa.

Anyway, I think I speak for Mark and Alisa as well as myself when I say that all of us are very grateful for the treatment and care we have received from the folks here at Jilin Medical College and the Chinese CDC. All of this is not easy for anyone and we are very grateful for the concern shown to us today.

DSCN4006If you are confused by all of this, then just think how my cat must feel!!!!!!

 Today’s gospel and some comments: 

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. Jn 15:1-8 

Does society exist for the benefit of its members or the members for the benefit of society?  If you say the first, you seem to be setting the stage for complete individualism; but if you say the second are you not sponsoring fascism?  

We spontaneously assume that questions are perfectly clear and correctly put, and that only answers can be true or false. (This assumption may have something to do with our early schooling.) But there can be false questions, and the question above is surely false. It is like asking whether your head is for the benefit of your body, or your body for the benefit of your head. In a living organism everything is for the benefit of everything else. The question assumes a false opposition. 

St Paul said Jesus is the head of his body, the Church; he is the head, we the bodily members. We cannot be divided from the head and retain any life at all. Nor can a member separated from the body remain alive. A living body is an organism, not a collection of parts. We have to be careful about the images we use to describe the Church. False separations creep in subtly. The image in today’s reading is even more striking than Paul’s: a vine and its branches.  Unlike a tree, where you can distinguish clearly between trunk and branches, the vine is just all branches! “I am the vine and you are the branches”: the vine is the branches! 

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The First Anniversary of the Sichuan Earthquake. (May 12, 2009)

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Q1

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

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It was a very nice day here in Jilin today. The temperature hovered around 70 for most of the day. The wind was a little strong, but it was a great day to be outside. I was in the office most of the day, but managed to get outside to stretch my legs a few times.

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66° | 46°
 
sunny
73° | 46°
 
sunny
71° | 50°
 
cloudy
80° | 46°
 
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64° | 42°
 

I didn’t get home until around 2:00 this morning. The flight from Hong Kong was delayed a while in Guangzhou as the government’s quarantine officials were pretty strict in their carrying out swine flu precautions. A few folks on the flight had fevers and that led to delays. Fortunately, I made it back safe and sound, albeit a bit tired.

China reported its first case of the swine flu (A/H1N1) over the weekend and the government has put all relevant government agencies on alert to try and control this thing.

Face masks

A lot of folks were wearing face masks in Hong Kong and a few of the passengers on yesterday’s flight had surgical masks on. (Not as colorful as these.) I had a ton of them in my bag, but didn’t wear one on yesterday’s flight.

The big fear over in this part of the world is that the swine flu (easily spread but not very deadly) will somehow get mixed with bird flu (not easily spread but very deadly) and then things will really be a mess.

The World Health Organization reported two new human cases of bird flu on Wednesday. One patient is recovering in Egypt, while another died in Vietnam -- a reminder that the H5N1 virus is far from gone.

"Do not drop the ball in monitoring H5N1," WHO Director-General Margaret Chan told a meeting of Asia's top health officials in Bangkok on Friday by video link. "We have no idea how H5N1 will behave under the pressure of a pandemic."

Experts have long feared that bird flu could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people. The past three flu pandemics -- the 1918 Spanish flu, the 1957-58 Asian flu and the Hong Kong flu of 1968-69 -- were all linked to birds, though some scientists believe pigs also played a role in 1918.

I started the day by getting myself out of bed and over to the office to take care of some important stuff. The office was very busy this morning as many of the fifth year seniors stopped in to say hello.( I had a ton of phone messages when I turned my hand phone on in Guangzhou last night wondering if I would be in the office today and I assured them I would be there by 8:00) They were back on campus to take the Chinese RN exam over the weekend and more than a few are still around. They will graduate from our college on or around June 25th.

Needless to say it was great to see them all. They seem to be doing pretty good and a good number of them have already signed contracts with hospitals all-over China. I guess those contracts become valid as soon as the passing scores on the RN exams come out.

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Qi Chunyan (pictured here with her classmate’s arms around her neck) lost her mother to breast cancer last month. Her mother had been fighting a difficult battle since early in 2007 and lost the fight on April 23rd. Chunyan is one of my favorites, so we had a good chat this morning.

I didn’t have classes this morning, but I did have a make-up writing class this afternoon. That class was originally scheduled for yesterday morning. The class itself went well, at the end of class, however, the students had journals to turn in to be corrected and that was a little depressing!

Rad, Jackie and Kevin were over this evening for a meal and chat. Because of one thing or another, I hadn't been able to spend any significant time with them the past two weeks, so tonight’s meal was a must. They are taking off on Thursday for Beijing, where Rad is running in The Great Wall Marathon. That race is apparently named after my blog! ^_^

Runna has been here for the past week. Her college roommate was married in Jilin City on Sunday, so Runna came a little early and stayed a little late in order to see some friends.

I spent a little time this evening getting ready for the arrival of my nephew Mark and his girlfriend Alisa tomorrow. Basically everything is set for their arrival, I just needed to move the microwave oven to their apartment (popcorn) and make sure the hot water heater is working. They are scheduled to arrive at the Changchun airport just before 11:00 tomorrow morning. Everything is ready for their arrival and they are in the air as I type.

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Today is the first anniversary of the huge earthquake that rocked Sichuan province last year killing nearly 100,000 people. (The last figures I saw were 89,000 dead and 13,000 still missing...putting the figure over 100,000.) For the first time in nearly a year, mourners were allowed back into Wenchuan in Beichuan County, the hardest hit quake area to mourn the loss of loved ones.

Sang Jun Family

Sang Jun holds a picture of his 11-year-old son, Sang Xingpeng, who died in a school collapse during last year's Sichuan earthquake. His wife, Liu Mengying, holds their 45-day-old boy, Sang Ruifeng.

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Radio, TV and newspapers have made a big deal of the first anniversary giving it front page coverage and 24 hour coverage today. Certainly a lot has happened over the past 365 days; some good and some not so good.

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Speaking of radio, Liu Xuefei was in the office today to talk over a few things concerning the radio show.

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She is doing well and we had a great chat.

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While she was here a few students came by the office and wanted their picture taken with the radio star. I had the camera, so they had to settle for a picture with Xuefei!! ^_^

Today is also International Nurses' Day. Because of the first anniversary of the earthquake Nurses Day falling on the same day we celebrated Nurses' Day here last week. Nurses are important people and working here with so many nursing students I have come to appreciate what they do in a very deep way. It is indeed a special vocation and I want to send greetings in today's blog to nurses everywhere. Thank you all for what you do for us!!

Today’s gospel and some comments: 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, “I am going away, and I am coming to you.” If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me; but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us be on our way. Jn 14:27-31a

In the Scriptures peace is always much more than a cessation of hostilities. It is a right relationship with God and with others – with others because with God. In this picture, there is no peace if there is no peace with God. But we often settle for less, calling it peace: if we are not actually fighting we say we are at peace. We always say that war “breaks out,” implying it was always there, dormant, within us, just waiting to cross over into action. Why not talk about peace breaking out? Of course it can only break out if it is first within us. But it is. “Peace I leave with you,” Jesus said, “My peace I give to you.”

The Jews of old (and still today) say, “Shalom!” – which means, “Peace!” This fine greeting too can become superficial unless we see some depth of God in it. It was not just a vague wish for the other person, “Don’t worry, be happy!” It was a prayer for full harmony with God – for salvation. Here is the original text in which Jews were told to greet and bless one another with ‘Peace’: “Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them, ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace” (Numbers 6:22-26). This is a wonderful blessing, worth learning by heart, and using bravely on special occasions (instead of “Good luck!”). It is a prayer for “the peace that the world cannot give.” 

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Monday, May 11, 2009

Heading Back to Jilin (May 11, 2009)

On the Air  

It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.-Arnold Toynbee

I will be leaving here shortly for the airport and my flight back to Jilin.

Fr. Sean at Maryknoll Jubliee Party

Fr. Sean’s funeral mass is set for Wednesday evening at 8:00. That time and the place Sean (Christ the King Chapel in Causeway Bay) are both necessary as the crowd is going to be huge. Fr. Sean Burke was loved by many here in Hong Kong. The burial will take place on Thursday morning at St. Michael’s cemetery (where some other Maryknoll priests are buried) in an area known as Happy Valley.

I will be back in Jilin late tonight and back in the classroom tomorrow. On Wednesday morning my nephew, Mark, and his girlfriend, Alisa, arrive for a couple of months. They are going to help me work with the freshmen and also do some touring around China. I hope to get them down here to Hong Kong, for a visit, too.

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My Tigers took over sole possession of first place in the AL Central after sweeping their  weekend series with Cleveland. Kansas City got swept out west and the Tigers now have a half-game lead on the Royals. The Tigers end their road trip with a three game series at Minnesota starting on Tuesday. Aaron's Twins have had Detroit's number for the past Bless_you_boys few seasons and this would be a good time to put an end to that.

One reason for the weekend sweep was the great play of centerfielder Curtis Granderson. He makes the difficult catches look easy and as of late has had a number of game winning hits!

AL Central Standings

W L PCT GB STRK
Detroit 17 13 .566 0 Won 3
Kansas City 18 14 .562 0 Lost 3
Minnesota 15 17 .468 3 Lost 1
Chicago 14 16 .466 3 Lost 1
Cleveland 11 21 .343 7 Lost 4

Rick Porcello got the win for Detroit and the Tigers' pitching staff is starting to get their act together. Everyone knows the Tigers can score, so if the pitching is there the season is going to be very interesting.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’ Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me. ‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Jn 14:21-26

The word ‘abide’ is used repeatedly in the part of John's gospel that we are reading these days. It is variously translated as ‘live’ and ‘remain’ and 'make your home'. It is a beautiful word. Meister Eckhart loved it. He wrote, “It is not right to love God for His heaven's sake nor for the sake of anything at all, but we should love Him for the goodness that He is in Himself. For whoever loves him for anything else does not abide in Him, but abides in the thing he is loving Him for. If, therefore, you want to abide in Him, you must love Him for nothing but Himself.”

That's how a person behaves at home: we love the people there for their own sakes, not for what we can get from them. Saint Teresa of Avila said she would like to close down both heaven and hell, so that people would do good for its own sake, not because of greed or fear, and love God for God's own sake. That would be abiding in God.

Equally, the Trinity abides in us. “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him”. He promised too to send the Holy Spirit. This means that the Trinity lives in us. And we in the Trinity.

How did we get the idea that God was distant from us? I suppose it was because many people spoke to us about God and neglected to mention that “God is love”. Love brings near. Fear separates, it makes you want to run away. How terrible that we run away from our very Source like frightened animals! How terrible that we feel like strangers and exiles from our own home, our abode.

In the immortal story that Jesus told about the Prodigal Son, the father saw his son “while he was yet a long way off…and was moved to pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly.” Then he gave him the best robe and put a ring on his finger. This ring symbolized that he was a true son, and not a servant as he wanted to be. That was Jesus describing God our Father. How then could we ever have imagined that God was distant from us? Even when we try to make ourselves distant from God, God remains close to us. To quote Meister Eckhart again, “You need not seek Him here or there, He is no further than the door of your heart; there He stands patiently awaiting whoever is ready to open up and let Him in. No need to call to Him from afar: He can hardly wait for you to open up. He longs for you a thousand times more than you long for Him.”

‘Abide’. It is a word you might use to describe what you are doing in meditation: you are abiding, you are making you home in Christ, you are within his mind. You are in God and God is in you. You are in your true home.

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Sunday, May 10, 2009

MOTHERS' DAY 2009 (Sunday May 10th, 2009)

MOM1

When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves. - William Arthur Ward

I begin today's blog with special Mother's Day Greetings for all mothers in general and for my own mother in particular. Moms are great!!

Last night I had a very enjoyable time with my classmate, Fr. Mike Sloboda. He had the 6:00 mass at his parish, so I concelebrated and then we had a very nice meal at the rectory.

Tiger Fans

My Tigers got their second shutout in as many games, blanking the Indians (Go Tribe) 4-0 last night.That is something like 19 or more scoreless innings for Cleveland. This of course makes Tiger fans very happy!!

I have a busy day ahead of me so I am going to post today's blog early.

I read an interesting editorial in America Magazine the other day and since I have a short blog today I thought I might share it with you. The title comes from British writer Johathon Swift's 18th century satirical essay. But this is not satire.

A Modest Proposal

Silence and fervent prayer for vocations are no longer adequate responses to the priest shortage in the United States. As the church prepares to observe the Year of the Priest, which begins on June 19, open discussion about how to sustain the church as a eucharistic community of faith and fortify the pastoral life of Catholic congregations has become imperative. For making do within the limits set by present demographic trends presents a double threat to Catholic life: Catholic communities will become only infrequent eucharistic communities, or eucharistic communities will be severed from the pastoral care and public witness of priests.

In 2008 the sociologist Dean Hoge said: “We need at least a doubling of ordinations to maintain the American priesthood as we know it now. But this is impossible.” Of current diocesan priests, only 70 percent are available for parish ministry, with the rest sick, retired or absent for a variety of reasons, according to Mary Gautier of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. An increasing number of Catholics are unable to participate in a Sunday or weekday Mass. All this prompts the question, Will the priest shortage impose a eucharistic famine on the Catholic people?

The de facto remedy already applied in many places— making the priest a circuit rider moving from parish to parish to dispense the sacraments—risks narrowing the ministry of the priest and impoverishing the Christian life of the communities he serves. A narrowly sacramental definition of priesthood satisfies the requirements of only one of the three canons that define the pastoral responsibilities of the priest, Canon 530. As a consequence the sacramental office is as a practical matter severed from its integral connection with comprehensive pastoral care. Canons 528 and 529 provide a broader understanding of the priestly ministry. The first sees the priest as one who instructs, catechizes, fosters works of justice, shows special care for the education of children and brings the Gospel to those who have ceased to practice the faith. The second requires that he should come to know the faithful entrusted to his care, visit families, share their concerns, worries and griefs, help the sick and seek out the poor, the afflicted and the lonely. Diminishing numbers make it difficult to carry out this holistic vision of the priest’s pastoral ministry.

We hope that the upcoming Year of the Priest will lead to a broader discussion of the priesthood in the contemporary world and, in particular, will open examination of the various ways the shortage of priests can be addressed honestly and with imagination. New vocations can be promoted through youth rallies, the Internet and, as always, with prayer. In addition, the pastoral needs of parishes may also be met in part by more effective pastoral assignment of permanent deacons and by increased leadership by lay men and women.

What about the recruitment and training of married men as priests? Married priests already minister in the Catholic Church, both East and West. Addressing the married clergy of the Eastern Catholic churches, the Second Vatican Council exhorted “all those who have received the priesthood in the married state to persevere in their holy vocation and continue to devote their lives fully and generously to the flock entrusted to their care” (Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests,” No. 16). That exhortation now applies to the more than 100 former Anglican priests and Lutheran ministers who have entered the Catholic Church, been ordained and now serve in the Latin rite. As we face the challenges of the priest shortage, some of the more than 16,000 permanent deacons in the United States, many of them married, who experience a call to priestly ministry might be called to ordination with a similarly adapted discipline. In addition, the views and desires of some of the more than 25,000 priests who have been laicized (and are now either single or married) should also be heard.

Our plea is modest. The bishops of the United States should take greater leadership in openly discussing the priest shortage and its possible remedies. These should not be conversations in which we face a problem only to find every new avenue of solution closed. Rather, they should be exchanges fully open to the possibilities offered by the Spirit. 

In March, Cardinal Edward Egan, the newly retired archbishop of New York, said in a candid moment that the topic of married priests “is a perfectly legitimate discussion.” He added, “I think it should be looked at.” The cardinal later nuanced his statement, but the need for a creative re-visioning of priestly life to sustain the eucharistic life of the church in its fullest sense can no longer be delayed.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. Jn 15:1-8

In last Sunday's gospel reading Jesus was the good shepherd and we the sheep. Today's image expresses an even closer relationship: a vine and its branches. This is so close a relationship that you could say it is beyond relationship; it expresses identification. "I am the vine…you the branches." But a vine is all branches! It is not like a tree or a big shrub where you have a substantial trunk and a profusion of branches. The vine is just branches. He has identified himself with us. It is obvious that a branch cut off from the vine (or from any tree or shrub) will wither. In the case of the vine, not only is the branch destroyed but the vine itself is diminished. To destroy a branch is to destroy the vine in some measure; to cut off a brother or sister in Christ is to cut off Christ.

This is also the teaching of St Paul. Christ, he said, is the head and we are the body. "We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another" (Romans 12:4); "Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:12). 

A favorite word in John's gospel and letters is 'abide' (or the rather colorless translation 'remain'): abiding in God, abiding in Christ, abiding in his word.... I counted thirty-seven. To abide is not to be a visitor, it is even more than being a friend, it is to be at home.

It seems that no image can go far enough in expressing our union with Christ and God. Meister Eckhart said, "If anyone put water in a barrel, the barrel would surround the water, but the water would not be in the barrel (that is, it would not occupy the same space as the wood of the barrel), nor would the barrel be in the water: but the soul is wholly one with God... In spiritual things there is no separating of one from another."

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Saturday, May 09, 2009

Saturday May 9, 2009

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Which dreams indeed are ambition, for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream. - William Shakespeare

I got up at a reasonable hour and walked down to and around Stanley Beach. It is a beautiful day here in Hong Kong.

After my walk I had breakfast with a few of the guys and then made some phone-calls. I talked with my Mom. She and Dad are doing great. I also had a quick chat with my sister, Marcia and a longer chat with my nephew, Mark, who will be heading to Jilin next week.

I will be meeting with Fr. John Cioppa later today and then I plan to have dinner with my classmate Fr. Mike Sloboda. He has the 6:00 mass at his parish, so I will concelebrate with him and then we’ll go to a restaurant nearby for dinner.

My Tigers got some great pitching from Justin Verlander (complete game shutout-11 strikeouts) and a big catch in the bottom of the ninth by Curtis Granderson to beat the Cleveland Indians 1-0. A great game if you win and a real heartbreaker if you lose!

Today’s gospel and some comments:

If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’ Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. Jn 14:7-11

“Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied!” One should hope so! There is nothing beyond. But perhaps what John had in mind was to echo a passage in Exodus. There Moses said to God, "Show me your glory, I pray," which the Septuagint translates, "Show me yourself" (Exodus 33:18). God's reply was, "You cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live." But Jesus’ reply to Philip stands in perfect contrast to this: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” 

This was a clear expression of Jesus’ intimacy with the Father. He cannot be understood apart from his relationship with his Father: “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” On another occasion he said, “The Father and I are one.” But he never said, “I am the Father.” Between him and his Father is a vital relationship, and also a vital distinction.

Without imagining that we are ‘explaining’ Jesus and the Father, we can say that this is what personal life is like. Inanimate things can fuse together as an amorphous whole, but union in personal life retains all vital distinctions. There is union, and simultaneously difference. Some holy person once said, “God and I are not one and we are not two.” How do we understand this? Try and figure it out! According to the head we are two; according to the heart we are one. Is that the answer? An answer can be too clear. I think we can answer it really only with our life, not with words.

“The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do.” ‘Faith’ and ‘works’ together in one phrase! There have been centuries of argument about these words. It’s clear, though, that Jesus is not referring to some sort of manipulative strategies on our part, but to action that flows directly from faith; not action that substitutes for faith, but action that is its fruit. Without such action there would be no evidence of life. As Paul put it, “the only thing that counts is faith working through love".

“In fact, [they] will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” Jesus’ greatest work is still to come: his death, resurrection, ascension, and his sending the Spirit. That Spirit will be poured out on them in abundance at Pentecost. Johann Tauler said, “Imagine the Rhine in flood, with all the dams and barriers cleared away. How it would come rushing down in full stream, overflowing its banks as if to drown and submerge everything, filling all the valleys and meadows in its way! That is just how the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and all those whom He found ready to receive Him. And so He still does, unceasingly at every moment.”

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Friday, May 08, 2009

Back in Hong Kong at Maryknoll, Stanley. (May 8,2009)

Stanley House

Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays. - Soren Kierkegaard

I got in my morning walk and then came over to the office to take care of some emails and last minute business before leaving for Hong Kong.

I left the office around 9:00 and headed for the airport in Changchun. I had an 11:00 a.m. flight to Hong Kong which took off on time and arrived on time. I got here at Maryknoll, Stanley about 6:30 or so. Just in time to be late for dinner!!

Having been here with the group of nursing students just two weeks ago, the house seems pretty quiet tonight. With Sean not here it seems quiet in another sense. Sean was one of three full-time residents in this house.

Tiger Fans in China

With so many things happening, it has been a few days since I last checked in on my beloved Detroit Tigers. They split the two game series with Aaron’s Twins earlier in the week. The first game of a two game mid-week series against Chicago got rained out on Wednesday and last night the Tigers were shut out by the Whie Sox. Kansas City is starting to put a little distance between themselves and the rest of the AL Central. Even the KC fans have to be surprised by that!

I will spend sometime tomorrrow and Sunday working with Fr. John and then head back to Jilin on Monday.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, Jn 14:1-6  

The metaphor of ‘path’ is universal in spirituality. It is so deeply embedded that it scarcely seems a metaphor at all. The metaphor extends itself into ‘climbing’, and gives us the titles of many classics such as, The Ascent of Mount Carmel (St John of the Cross), and The Ladder of Perfection (Walter Hilton). 

 In this passage Jesus spoke of a ‘place’. This too is a metaphor. Eternal life has no geographical location. He also spoke of the path (the “way”) in this passage: “You know the way to the place….” But ‘place’ is a metaphor we should not pass over.

Metaphors are not strictly true or false in the way that literal speech is. For this reason they don't exclude one another.

Let’s dwell for a moment on the metaphor of place. The ‘place’ of spirituality is always here, this place – just as the time is always now. Are we not already here now? Yes and no. Physically I am always ‘here’, and the time is always ‘now’. But in every other way I can be simply absent. From this angle, spiritual development is less like making a journey than waking up from a dream. In the dream you are in San Francisco or in Paris. But to come back to reality you don't need to book a flight, you don't have to travel at all. All you need is someone’s elbow in your ribs!

An older translation had “In my Father’s house there are many mansions.” The word comes from Latin manere, to remain. ‘Mansion’ means a place where you stay and don't move. In a hyperactive age it is helpful to be reminded not to move! Meister Eckhart: “People say: 'Alas, sir, I wish I stood as well with God or had as much devotion and were as much at peace with God as others are.... I can never manage it unless I am there or there, or do this or that; I must get away from it all, or go and live in a cell or a cloister.' In fact, the reason lies entirely with yourself and with nothing else. It is self-will, though you may not know it or believe it…. Though we may think one should flee these things or seek those things – places or people or methods, or company or deeds – this is not the reason why methods or things hold you back: what prevents you is you yourself in the things, for you have a wrong attitude to things. Begin therefore with yourself and forget yourself.”

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Thursday, May 07, 2009

Nurses' Day Festivities in China and the USA. (May 7, 2009)

To see and listen to the wicked is already the beginning of wickedness. – Confucius

I got up earlier than usual (so I got up very early) and got in the morning walk. I had mass in the chapel and then answered some emails before getting ready to go to the office. Just as I was walking out the door to head to the office I had a surprise phone call from Kim Hye Yoen in England.

Hye Yoen's call was a pleasant surprise and it was great to hear from her. She gave me a complete report on what she, her parents and her brother and sisters are doing these days. She has one more year of teaching in England before she heads back to Korea to look for a teaching position in 2010. She is expecting their fourth child in July.

Dance2

I had another active group of students today. They were excited about last night’s show and we spent most of breakfast talking about it. I really enjoyed the show and the singing and dancing were once again outstanding.

Dancing 3

I had morning classes and a couple of meetings this afternoon. Before I knew it the day was over and I still needed to put together some stuff for tomorrow’s trip to Hong Kong. Runna arrived from Beijing during breakfast. She is looking good. One of her college roommates is getting married here in Jilin City this weekend, so she is here to be part of the wedding. Unfortunately, I am leaving tomorrow for a quick trip to Hong Kong so I won’t be able to enjoy her company for more than one day.

Baker College USA and Jilin Medical College China

Wang Wei and Wang Minghong are continuing to enjoy their time at Baker College. They are learning a lot and being treated like Queens! As our nurses and student nurses celebrate Nurses’ Day here in China the same thing is happening back in the US. Wang Wei and Wang Minghong attended a party yesterday and will be inducted as members of the Baker College Student Nurses Association tomorrow. 

Wang 老师

王老师看起来非常高兴

Wang Minghong at Baker College (Wang Minghong at Baker College.) 

Baker College Newspapar article

According to Wang Wei and Wang Minghong it has been the experience of a lifetime. Meeting all-kinds-of nice people both in and out of the classroom. They even have writeups in the campus paper.

Calling Dr. Wang

" Wang Wei, I.C.U.; Wang Wei I.C.U.!!"

Wang Wei and Wang Minghong will be heading to Chicago this weekend with Timothy. They are all pretty excited about the trip. 

In an article in today's China Daily, General Motors is reporting record sales in the first quarter of 2009 and a monthly sales record for April. According to the article: GeneralKevin Wale   Cadillacs Motors reported that sales in China soared 50 percent in April to a monthly record of 151,084 vehicles, thanks mainly to a strong performance by Buick.

General Motors Asian chief, Kevin Wales, said in an interview that G.M. expects to double sales in China to about 2 million vehicles a year over the next five years.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But it is to fulfill the scripture, “The one who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.” I tell you this now, before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am he. Very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.’ Jn 13:16-20

At this point in John's gospel we have reached a turning-point in John's gospel. Jesus’ public ministry is finished, and he is entering the phase of his passion and death. A scholar wrote, "In the first part of the gospel, which here closes, Jesus lives in complete obedience to the Father; in the second part he will die in the same obedience." 

We are at the Last Supper, and he has just washed the disciples’ feet. This reversed the normal practice: it was a courtesy for a disciple to wash a rabbi’s feet. Particularly because of the moment in which it was done, this was a very compelling teaching. Like the Eucharist, it was to be remembered forever. In John’s gospel there is no account of the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. Instead there is the washing of feet. When Jesus sat down again he said, in approximately similar words, “Do this in memory of me.” It is the Eucharist overflowing into practice.

The feet are the lowliest part of the body in a literal sense, and the farthest away from the head! They are willing to go where hands would disdain to go; and when we touch something with the foot we haven't really established any personal contact with it. Yes, the feet are the most disowned part of the body. Yet they are our most fundamental and on-going contact with reality! And they are not the insensitive clods that they may appear to be. If you have never had a foot massage, treat yourself to one. The feet are so highly sensitive that a foot-massage affects the whole body.

“If I do this for you,” he said, “so should you for one another.” The washing of feet stands symbolically for every lowly service we can perform for one another. The persons at the receiving end of such services can sometimes seem insensitive and ungrateful...but, as with feet, there can be sensitivity where we least expect it.

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Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Fr. Sean Burke M.M. Dies in Hong Kong. (May 6, 2009)

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The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large. – Confucius

I received some sad news from Hong Kong this morning. Fr. Sean Burke M.M., a good friend Fr. Sean P. Burke M.M. who has done some great work in Hong Kong over the past 35 years, passed away suddenly yesterday in Hong Kong.

Sean was well-known in Hong Kong and has friends all over the world. For many years until his death yesterday, Sean was the director of prison chaplains for the Hong Kong Corrections Department. He was a leader in the World Movement for Christian Meditation and he also served for many years in leadership roles in Maryknoll.

I will be heading down to Hong Kong on Friday. Sean's funeral will be next week. At this time I am still waiting for news on the arrangements.

Fr.Sean was 63 years-old and a Maryknoll priest for about 31 years. Fr. Sean P. Burke M.M. R.I.P

The day started with the morning walk, mass in the chapel, followed by breakfast in the office with a lively group of freshmen.

I had classes all morning and the day in general was busy from the time I got to the office until just a short while ago. It was definitely a day where I was looking for Wang Wei on a number of occasions!

English Nursing Class of 2006

Today's class with the third year nursing students was the last class I will teach to that Marina Wang roup. They are a special bunch of kids (we arrived here at the medical college together) and I have really enjoyed teaching them over the past few years. I will still have some of them in elective courses that I offer and I have a number of them in study groups. This of course is the class that the infamous Marina Wang belongs to.

They come from all over China. There are 110 students in the class and they are a lot of fun to be around. Their program is a five year program, so they will still be on campus with me for one more year before heading off to hospitals around China for their year as nursing interns.

This evening the nursing college is putting on the annual Nurses' Day show. Over the years I have really enjoyed attending this show. They are always great shows loaded with all kinds of singing, dancing, skits, etc.

I will put some pictures from tonight's show on tomorrow's blog.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

Then Jesus cried aloud: ‘Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.’ Jn 12:44-50

Jesus constantly referred beyond himself: “whoever sees me sees the one who sent me.” Light does that; it is invisible in itself, but it makes everything else visible.

But “the one who sent me,” the Father, is also invisible! – the Father who “lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see” (1 Timothy 6:14-16). Clearly, light is just a metaphor for God. It is, however, a particularly good one: in fact the word ‘divinity’ comes, they say, from a Sanskrit root meaning ‘to shine’. But it is still just a metaphor.

St Augustine put it this way: “Urged to reflect upon myself, I entered under your [God’s] guidance the innermost places of my being; but only because you had become my helper was I able to do so. I entered, then, and with the vision of my spirit, such as it was, I saw the changeless light far above my spiritual ken and transcending my mind: not this common light which every carnal eye can see, nor any light of the same order; but greater, as though this common light were shining much more powerfully, far more brightly, and so extensively as to fill the universe. The light I saw was not the common light at all, but something different, utterly different, from all those things. Nor was it higher than my mind in the sense that oil floats on water or the sky is above the earth; it was exalted because this very light made me, and I was below it because by it I was made. Anyone who knows truth knows this light.”

This light is now our birthright. Still darkness clings to us, or rather we cling to it. We are not imprisoned; we imprison ourselves. Milton wrote somewhere about being one’s own dungeon. Like creatures kept too long in the dark, we are afraid of the light and of the open spaces. We cannot be forced out, because the dungeon is ourselves – we would bring it with us. But we are invited and charmed and coaxed out by the one who called himself “the light of the world.”

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Tuesday, May 05, 2009

May 5, 1984- May 5-2009 (My 25th Anniversary of Priesthood)

Brian At Holy Cross

Seek first his kingship over you, his way of holiness and all these things will be given you besides. Mt 6:33

Twenty-five years ago today in New York with my family and friends around me, I was Brian2 ordained a priest. The past twenty-five years have been a wonderful Safari with plenty of ups and downs along the way. (More ups than downs for sure.) If there were such a thing as a priesthoodmeter it would be very hard to determine which period of the 25 years was the best. They were all good. 

Preaching, evangelizing and starting the high school at the parish in Mugumu, Tanzania was a great way to get started. 

My work with university students and young men interested in priesthood on the east coast during the mid 90s  was a very rewarding experience.

The past ten years here in China have been awesome. I have indeed been blessed with6a00d8341c83a053ef00e55280ae1e8834-500wi  friends all over the world and while there have been challenges I have always felt HIS presence there with me on this incredible journey.

It has been an experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything; a journey that has allowed me to discover the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field- the Lord Jesus himself.

For all of you in Africa (14 years in Tanzania), here in China(10 years in Jilin) and back home in the US, who have been part of the journey and helped me along the way I want to express my deepest thanks.Thank you all for being my friends! Ahante Sana! 谢谢 and Thanks!

I started my day with the morning walk and then spent sometime in the chapel before heading over to the office for breakfast with the students. I had a special anniversary mass late this afternoon.

Mom and Dad

Mom and Dad called just as I was getting ready to leave the office for class this morning. It was good to hear from them on this special day. They are both doing well, which of course makes me feel great!

I had the freshmen nursing students for spoken English this morning. They all gave short presentations so the classes involved  little heavy lifting on my part.

After the morning class, I had to make an unexpected run to the Bank of China, fortunately that didn’t take up too much of my time. They just needed one more signature!

Some after-dinner drinks

The group of students who were at the apartment for lunch today were a pretty active (loud) group. As far as I am concerned the more noise the better as there is nothing worse than a quiet meal. (I rarely make a silent retreat) Jingmei put together a special meal today to celebrate my 25th and we had some milkshakes from the second dining hall after the meal.

Library construction site

On the way back to the office after lunch I went by the construction site of the new library. They are busy there most days and it looks like they are getting ready to lay some foundations later this week or next week.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” Jn 10:22-30

To understand today’s gospel a little history is needed. There were some dark days in the land of Judea, between the Old and New Testaments. The Babylonians who had destroyed Jerusalem had in turn been destroyed by the Persians; and under the Persians, the Jews had been allowed back to rebuild Jerusalem. Then the Persian Empire had fallen to Alexander the Great, (and that isn’t the football player from Seattle) which hadn't changed things a whole lot around Judea. But then, Alexander the Great died, and the Seleucids took over Judea; and one of the Seleucids' kings was Antiochus Epiphanes.

Antiochus Epiphanes, or "Antiochus the Enlightened" sought to "enlighten" the Jews. He looked at their religion of one God, of keeping his commands, and of waiting for the Messiah to come; and deciding that this religion was holding them back, he made its practice punishable by death. He turned the temple, God's house, into a place for pagan sacrifices and a brothel. If a believer circumcised his child or rested on the Sabbath, he was to be scourged and flayed alive until death. Terror gripped Judea because of such enlightening.

 In time, the family of the Maccabees rose up among the Jews. The first to revolt was Mattathias, but leadership quickly fell to his son, Judas. Judas Maccabaeus led a makeshift army against the Seleucids and gradually defeated them. Eventually, Jerusalem was freed; and the Jews held a great celebration in which they cleansed the temple and dedicated it to the Lord once again. The occasion became a holiday for all of Judea, called the Feast of Dedication; we know it as Hanukkah.

Judas was the hero-the one who saved Judea from the Seleucids and restored the freedom to worship the one true God. He was regarded by many as not just a hero, but perhaps even the Messiah sent by God to deliver his people. There is no doubt that Judas Maccabaeus was a great man, but his messiahship was only temporary, as was the deliverance he brought. Eventually, he died in battle; and he did not rise again. And although he had freed Judea from the Seleucids, it was only a matter of time until the Romans took over.

Judas the hero was dead, and the freedom he'd won was snatched away once again. 

As today’s gospel begins, it's Hanukkah in Jerusalem, and Jesus is strolling through the courts of the temple. He is well known by now. His teaching is repeated, his miracles are recounted again and again, and multitudes follow him wherever he goes. Lots of eyes are on him, because Judea is in need of another hero, another deliverer. Could Jesus be the Messiah, the Christ they've been waiting for? He has potential-he can heal and even raise the dead. But at the same time, he lacks the political zeal of a Judas Maccabaeus, and shows no military aspirations against the Romans. Is he the Messiah, or isn't he?

So they gather around Jesus and confront him: "How long do you keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus’ response is pretty clear. He says, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

Jesus’ says, "I told you, and you did not believe,” He points to the works that he does in his father’s name, works which the Old Testament said would identify the Messiah. He points to the word that he speaks with his voice, the word that gives eternal life to his sheep. He tells them that he has such power and authority that no one can snatch his people out of his hand. He tells them that he and the Father are one.

 So, this man Jesus is also fully God who fulfills the word, works miracles and gives eternal life to all who hear his voice and believe. Is he the Christ? Without a doubt, yes; and he's made it very clear to them by all that he has said and done. It is not that he is keeping them in doubt, but that they are keeping themselves in doubt by refusing to believe. It's not that he hasn't told them plainly, but that they're looking for a different answer. They want another warrior and conqueror like Judas Maccabaeus; this Jesus doesn't call himself a warrior, but a shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.

But if Jesus has made it so clear-and if it makes so much sense why don't they believe in him? It is certainly plain to you and me that he is the Christ, so what's the difference? It's because they don't have faith. The Savior stands before them, speaking his faith-giving word, but they refuse to believe in him. The Shepherd calls them, but they don't want to be his sheep. To them, Jesus is no good because he's no Judas Maccabaeus. It's true: he's not. He's far superior, as superior as God to man. Judas fought and died, and the freedom he won was eventually lost. Jesus will suffer and die; but then he will rise again from the dead. He gives his people eternal life, and no one will snatch them out of his hand.

One of the things that we Christians must acknowledge is that we preach a Savior, who is far beyond imagination and intellect. We preach a Prince of Peace who surpasses all human understanding. It is our joy and privilege as Christians to proclaim Jesus Christ. We rejoice, therefore, to declare that the Son of God took on human flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary. We further declare that the holy and righteous Christ, who lived a perfectly sinless life, also suffered and died on the cross for the sins of the world. We also joyfully confess that he rose again from the dead on the third day, that he lives and reigns for all eternity, and that he continues to minister to us with all that we need for this life and eternal life.

All of this is beyond man's imagination, intellect and comprehension. A perfect God who becomes flesh is nice in the abstract; but in this world where nothing is flawless, it sounds too perfect. A God who is holy and demands obedience is logical; but the same God offering his son as the sacrifice for the sins of the world just does not compute. The human mind wants a god that it can grasp, imagine and fully comprehend. A God who is greater than that is too unbelievable in our rational sort of age. 

Now, let's be clear. The problem is not that Jesus is too great to be believed in, too good to be true; people often act that way, but the problem does not lie with the Lord. Neither is the problem with the limited powers of the human mind-we simply aren't created in such a way that we can comprehend all things, for we are not the Creator. The problem is sin. It's that original sin that blinds us to God's word. It's that Old Adam in us that has no intention of letting us believe in a God who is greater than we can grasp or control. 

The problem does not lie with Jesus and who he is. The problem lies with us; and the problem is sin and lack of faith. It is not merely a matter of misunderstanding, nor is it that the Gospel is just too complex for people. The problem with unbelievers is that sin prevents them from believing.

We must understand this when it comes to evangelization. Our God-given part and privilege in saving the lost is not to argue with people until they accept our logic, because logic doesn't save. It is not to bully people into believing, because grace is a gift, not something forced. It is certainly not to dumb down or soften up the Word of God to make Jesus more attractive to the old sinful nature. No, our God-given part and privilege in saving the lost is faithfulness-faithfully preaching the Word of God and abiding by it. The Word of God is the voice of the Good Shepherd; when sheep hear his voice, they follow him.

One danger, and a popular one these days, is to reduce Jesus into a graspable Savior. Instead of teaching him as the virgin-born Son of God, crucified and risen, portray him as a figure that people can understand. Portray him as only a therapist, who helps people deal with emotional hardship, and make the church all about supporting one another. Teach him as only a defender of the poor and downtrodden, and make the church all about social justice and tolerance. Preach him as only a moral leader who keeps his promises and drives with purpose, and make the church all about being a better person. Preach him as only a healer, and make the church about living a better life in this world. Emphasize qualities of Jesus that people can understand, even without faith; and de-emphasize those attributes of Jesus that can only be believed by faith.

Many churches have adopted this tactic, and the pews may fill for a while. But here's the thing: I'm thankful for godly therapists and social workers and moral leaders and healers, all of whom are God's gifts to help us with this life. However, just like Judas Maccabaeus, therapists and social workers and moral leaders and healers are limited, sinful and eventually die. If people "believe" in Jesus only as a help for this life, they have no hope for eternal life. Woe to the one who reduces Jesus into a sensible Savior, and thus fails to preach his salvation.

Posted at 08:00 PM | | Comments (2)

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Monday, May 04, 2009

A Visit From an Old Friend!! (May 4th, 2009)

Great Wall

Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! Virtue is at hand. – Confucius

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I had a visit today from an old friend. Chris Ptak taught with me at Beihua University five years ago and is back in Jilin for a few days to see some friends. Chris is a 2004 graduate of Notre Dame and a great guy!

Chris came to the medical college around 1:00 this afternoon and stayed till about 5:00. Chris and Brian February 2005 As you can see from the picture (with Jingmei) he looks great. Chris is now living and working in Chicago. He will be flying back to Chicago this weekend and was disappointed to hear that he will not be in Chicago when Wang Wei visits.

Chris and I had a great chat, recalling past experiences, talking about our present work and also looking to the future. The weather today was muchBrian And Chris in Thomland better than the weather Chris remembered during his stay in Jilin City. It was really great seeing him again and I pray that God will bless Chris with peace, happiness and fulfillment in all that he does.

I was up late last night doing some counseling and as a result the day  started a bit later today.

Things got going with a gang of freshmen in the office for breakfast. Coming off a three-day weekend they were not in the same high spirits as their classmates were last Friday. They all had a good time and wished the vacation was a little longer. Me too!

I had class with the third year nursing students this morning. I have them for class again on Wednesday, which will be the final lecture for that class. 

Lunch Crew 5-4-2009I had lunch at the apartment with a group of sophomores.

Jeremy and Cici

Jeremy and Cici are two fourth year nursing students getting ready to head out for their internship year.

The college switched to summer hours today. That means afternoon classes begin an hour later at 2:00, and the evening classes begin an hour later at 7:00. The students love the summer schedule as it gives them a chance to head back to their dorms after lunch and sleep for an hour or so.

Jiang Fan and Lu Shuchao

Lu Shuchao on the right celebrated a birthday!

 Mail

I just finished with the evening study groups and as soon as I finish this blog I am going to head back to the apartment.

My Tigers took the rubber game of the three game series with Cleveland. Jason Verlander Tiger Fans in China was on again (striking out 11) and Curtis Granderson drove in the winning run for the second straight day as Detroit won 3-1. The Tigers remain tied for first in the AL Central and will now host the Aaron’s Minnesota Twins for a two-game series on Monday and Tuesday. The Twins had their way with the Tigers last year, so here is hoping that 2009 will be different.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.’ Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. Jn 10:1-10

The sheepfold was a simple enclosure in which sheep belonging to various shepherds were kept by night, with a guardian at the gate.

“I am the gate of the sheepfold,” Jesus said. It doesn't seem at first a very personal image: a gate. But for someone seeking a way out of slavery or imprisonment, or seeking entry to a place of well-being, there is nothing of greater interest. There are several similar images in the New Testament: the door, the doorkeeper, the keys, the way.

 All of these have this in common: that they are perfectly ambiguous. You can travel in two different directions along a way. A gate or door can lock you in or out, include or exclude you. And even inclusion is ambiguous: it can be protection or imprisonment. Keys symbolize power, but it can be power for or against you.

In the mind and heart of Jesus, these are benign images; the sheep are reassured by the presence of the Good Shepherd. But in other minds and hearts – because of sin – these images can be interpreted the other way, and then God help the sheep!

Posted at 10:02 PM | | Comments (0)

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Sunday, May 03, 2009

Mine That Bird....And If You Did That Kind of Mining You Can Start Counting Your Money! (May 3, 2009)

Maryknoll

Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

WOW

For my readers here in China, Mine That Bird is the name of the horse that won the 135th Kentucky Derby Mine That Bird yesterday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. At 50-1 odds he pulled off the second biggest upset (longshot win) in the history of the Kentucky Derby. You don't have to be a big fan of horse racing to enjoy this video of the race. The horse was such a long shot that the race announcer doesn't know his name!! He has an interesting name which comes from his father Birdstone and his mother Mining My Own.

It has been a beautiful day here in Jilin. I walked this morning and had mass  at the parish this afternoon. In between I kept myself busy visiting some friends, correcting papers and entertaining visitors in the office.

Wang Wei and Wang Minghong with students

I have started a new photo album on the left side of this blog and will be adding pictures that Wang Wei and Wang Minghong send to me chronicling their experiences at Baker College of Nursing in Owosso, Michigan. The picture above is of Wang Wei and Wang Minghong along with a teacher and students from Baker Nursing College at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan.

Wang Wei and Wang Minghong at the China Table

Wang Wei and Wang Minghong in front of the China table at the Global Diversity Fair at Baker College.

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王老师在美国。

I was able to chat with both Wang Wei and Wang Minghong this morning and they are both doing really great. It is a great experience for both of them.

Zhang Lei

Zhang Lei stopped by the office this morning and it was very nice to see her. She is pretty busy these days with her teaching schedule and being a mom.

Brian and Li Zhuo

Li Zhuo (Brianna) stopped in to say hello and goodbye. She will be leaving tomorrow morning on the train back to Liaoning province and her work. It was good seeing Brianna again and I really appreciate her stopping by just about every day while she was home.

Niu Chen and Gao Jing

Gao Jing, who I used to teach on Sundays when she was in high school came to the office today to say hello accompanied by her boyfriend, Niu Chen. It was good to see Gao Jing (she is a triplet), but I was saddened to hear that her mother was paralyzed last December after a serious stroke. Gao Jing is in her first year of studies at the Police Academy.

Sun Liping1

Sun Liping stopped in to give me a hand with some classroom stuff.

One of the young Maryknoll teachers who used to be with me here in Jilin, Chris Ptak, is in town visiting some friends and I will be meeting him for lunch tomorrow. Chris was here about four years ago along with Jeremy Rivord. He is in town with a Canadian guy who taught in Jilin back when Chris was here and some other friends.

Curtis Granderson went deep in the bottom of the eighth and his two-run homerTiger Fans in China provided the winning runs for my Tigers in their game against Cleveland. The win puts Detroit back over .500 and in a virtual tie atop the AL Central. (Four teams have basically the same record for the season and the last ten games in the AL Central.) It also  evens their record at 1-1, as they begin a 13 game stretch against AL Central teams. The rubber game of their three game series with the Tribe is scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Aaron's Twins come to Motown on Monday for a short two-game series. This is a great time of year. The minor sports of basketball and hockey are still grabbing some space in the sports section, but before long it will be baseball, baseball and more baseball.

This week's highlights will be my 25th anniversary of priesthood on Tuesday May 5th and the Nurses' Day Evening Show （护士节晚会）at the Athletic and Convocation Center on Wednesday, May 6th. The Nurses' Day Evening Show is  one of the events I look forward to every year.

Today’s gospel and some comments:

‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.’ Jn 10:11-18 

Shepherds did not have sheepdogs in Jesus' time. They didn't need them, because sheep would follow their shepherd of their own free will. Jesus called himself a shepherd: the People of God are not to be driven by fear but led freely by love. In the early centuries the figure of Jesus as a shepherd was a favorite one, and perhaps the earliest representation of him shows him as the good shepherd.

Shepherds were humble folk. If Jesus had been born in the inn at Bethlehem rather than in the stable, the shepherds would not have been allowed in to visit him; this Good_shepherd_icon was the first signal of his accessibility. St Thomas Aquinas saw the same wisdom in the incarnation itself: the Word became flesh, he said, so that God would be accessible to us in Jesus.

The good shepherd, Jesus said, "lays down his life for his sheep." Who were the bad shepherds, then? Not the literal shepherds, the simple men on the hillside looking after their sheep. Not these, but the 'shepherds of the people', the leaders. In the Old Testament the term was applied to kings, royal officers, the elders, all who have any kind of authority. In nearly all Scriptural passages such 'shepherds' were being faulted for neglecting their responsibilities to the 'flock', the people. In Ezekiel for example they were severely reprimanded for neglecting "the weak, the sick the wounded, the strayed, the lost," for fattening themselves instead of tending to the needs of the flock. It is in contrast to these that Jesus calls himself the good shepherd. On every page of the gospel we find him seeking out these marginalized people: public sinners, lepers, Samaritans, the sick, the tormente.... He stood up to the authorities for their sake, he defied the systems that made them outcasts, he laid down his life rather than turn his back on them.

The imagery of shepherding has become so much part of the Christian mind that it almost becomes invisible. The words 'pastor' and 'pastoral' come from the Latin for shepherd. A bishop's crozier is a really a sort of stylish shepherd's stick. Those ancient shepherds carried a stick not to beat and prod their sheep but to beat off any wild animals that threatened the flock.

In today's reading, mention of the shepherd's death seems very sudden and unexpected, but in its own setting perhaps it was less so. This fidelity of the shepherd to his flock continues even into modern times. Yes, your bishop and your parish priest are expected to die if necessary in your defense. Your curate too. In fact all Christians are challenged to lay down their lives if necessary for others. The cross of Christ is not an ornament to hang on the wall but a pattern of Christian life.

Posted at 06:40 PM |

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