"Same-sex marriage" file

Islam File    The New Translation

48 (a): The human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together; we cannot adequately combat environmental degradation unless we attend to causes related to human and social degradation. 

In fact, the deterioration of the environment and of society affects the most vulnerable people on the planet: “Both everyday experience and scientific research show that the gravest effects of all attacks on the environment are suffered by the poorest”.[26] 

--------------------------

Pope announces World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation 
 - September 1 (following lead of Orthodox Church)

My article in today's Ming Pao: Not a hot topic in HK: air conditioning   

"Ice" is manufactured in China, then taken through HK to places like Australia where it is causing havoc: Senator reveals son's ice addiction, calls for rethink on how to tackle drug addiction

Reliable sources in HK say that getting ice from China to HK  through the land border crossing is not difficult. This means that customs officials at the border need to tighten security

Exodus 35

Moses encouraged the Israelites to give willingly and generously in building the Tent of Meeting.

Everyone whose heart was moved to help, brought their gifts for the Lord.

Dear God, move our hearts to help other people

Psalm 87

On the holy mountain is Jerusalem, the Lord's cherished city. Of you are told glorious things, O city of God.

All nations are called to serve and love the Lord. And Jerusalem shall be called their spiritual mother, for all shall be her children.

In Jerusalem everyone will be welcome and find a home.

Lord, may Jerusalem be a place of peace and prayer for all peoples

Recording

Revelation 3.14-17

He gave me this message for the church in Laodicea:

"You are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were one or the other.
But since you are lukewarm, you are cutting yourself off from me

You are rich in this word's goods, but you are spiritually poor

Listen to this message and repent"

Jesus, please don't ever let me become a lukewarm Christian

Recording

Recommended: check these readings early morning, think about them during the day, check them again at night. This habit gives us extra energy, courage, motivation, peace and compassion for each day

 Matthew 22.34-40

In Jerusalem a religious leader asked Jesus "Which is the most important commandment?"

Jesus replied "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart. And you must care as much about others as you care about yourself.

These are the two most important commandments. All other commandments depend on  these two."

Jesus, please help me love you with all my heart, and care for others as much as I care about myself

Recording

The desperate hunt for Li Heping, China's missing human rights warrior

Tanzania: Even though he is in the midst of a political tsunami, Dr Slaa has sent a beautiful email message for Tanzanian inmates in HK prisons (August 5):
"Kind regards to all the inmates. I love them all. Lots of greetings to each one of them individually and collectively. Always thinking of them and the difficulties they are going through"

No to a sterile pessimism

84. The joy of the Gospel is such that it cannot be taken away from us by anyone or anything. The evils of our world – and those of the Church – must not be excuses for diminishing our commitment and our fervour.

 Let us look upon them as challenges which can help us to grow. With the eyes of faith, we can see the light which the Holy Spirit always radiates in the midst of darkness, never forgetting that “where sin increased, grace has abounded all the more” 

Our faith is challenged to discern how wine can come from water and how wheat can grow in the midst of weeds. Fifty years after the Second Vatican Council, we are distressed by the troubles of our age and far from naive optimism; yet the fact that we are more realistic must not mean that we are any less trusting in the Spirit or less generous. 

In this sense, we can once again listen to the words of Blessed John XXIII on the memorable day of 11 October 1962: “At times we have to listen, much to our regret, to the voices of people who, though burning with zeal, lack a sense of discretion and measure. In this modern age they can see nothing but prevarication and ruin … We feel that we must disagree with those prophets of doom who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand. In our times, divine Providence is leading us to a new order of human relations which, by human effort and even beyond all expectations, are directed to the fulfilment of God’s superior and inscrutable designs, in which everything, even human setbacks, leads to the greater good of the Church”.

My weekly article in today's Ming Pao newspaper
with the topic: Not a hot topic in HK: air conditioning
is on Ming Pao website - click "Australian in HK".
Free access to article with recording today from about noon to 8pm HK time. Text without recording

From a reader in Canada:
Many years ago, a person traveled with his GPS in his vehicle. When he still had about 2 kms to the border between China and Vietnam, the GPS said: If you have a Vietnam VISA, go directly, if not, turn back

Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:

Sun: Africa        Mon: Europe & Russia     Tues: South Asia      Wed: East Asia  
Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific       Frid: South America       Sat: Central & North America 
  
Jesus, today, Tuesday,  please bless the people of South Asia

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 11th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Hunan

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 11th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Eritrea

And praying for one Islam-related intention each day of the week:
Jesus, please pacify Boko Haram 

This website's Tanzania File
(stopping Africans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from Tanzanian inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

This website's South America file 
(stopping South Americans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from South American inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

This website's HK Asylum Seekers' File
(stopping South Asians from being "people smuggled" to HK)

"Same-sex marriage" file

Islam File    The New Translation

  47 (b):  Real relationships with others, with all the challenges they entail, now tend to be replaced by a type of internet communication which enables us to choose or eliminate relationships at whim, thus giving rise to a new type of contrived emotion which has more to do with devices and displays than with other people and with nature. 

Today’s media do enable us to communicate and to share our knowledge and affections. Yet at times they also shield us from direct contact with the pain, the fears and the joys of others and the complexity of their personal experiences.

For this reason, we should be concerned that, alongside the exciting possibilities offered by these media, a deep and melancholic dissatisfaction with interpersonal relations, or a harmful sense of isolation, can also arise.

Yesterday a full day for me: two morning Chinese Masses at St Paul's Yau Ma Tei, then the afternoon spent at Lo Wu Prison, then back to Yau Ma Tei for usual Sunday night gathering for the poor

Some Sunday night friends missing last night: they are back in prison, where they have often been. How to help people not go back is our aim. 

Continuing to grow is the number of YMT Sunday morning and Sunday night friends/volunteers  who are regularly visiting prisoners on a one-to-one basis.  God bless these kind friends!

Exodus 34

Again Moses went up the mountain and stood before God.

God described himself: "I am the Lord, a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness."

When Moses came down from the mountain, the skin on his face was radiant after speaking with God.

Dear God, we praise your tenderness and compassion

My recording of this reading

Psalm 86

Turn your ear, O Lord, and give answer, for I am poor and needy.

O Lord, you are good and forgiving, full of love to all who call to you.

All the nations shall come to adore you, and glorify your name, O Lord, you who alone are God.

Show me, Lord, your way, and guide my heart so that I may walk in your truth.

I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart, for your love to me has been great.

O give your strength to your servant, and save your handmaid's son.

Dear Lord, thank you for all  your love

Recording

Revelation 3.7-9

He gave me this message for the church in Philadelphia:

"I am opening a new door of opportunity for you to spread the Good News

I will move people to accept the Good News from you. I will keep you safe in time of trial"

Jesus, please give me more opportunities to spread the Good News

Recording

Matthew 21.12-16

When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, he went to the Temple. In the Temple there were money changers, and people selling pigeons.

Jesus tipped over their tables and drove them out of the Temple. He said to them "My house is a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a place for robbery".

Blind and lame people came to Jesus in the Temple. He healed them all.

Then he went out of the city to the village of Bethany and spent the night there.

Jesus, please protect all places of prayer from corruption

Recording

Sowing and Reaping Bountifully
How do you sow bountifully? This is done when your words and deeds from sun-up to sun-down are acts of kindness and love. It is a life of perpetual charity.

My recent interview in 
Macau Catholic paper Oclarim

Macau and HK jails are among the best in the world

88 arrested in anti-drug operation

82. The problem is not always an excess of activity, but rather activity undertaken badly, without adequate motivation, without a spirituality which would permeate it and make it pleasurable. 

As a result, work becomes more tiring than necessary, even leading at times to illness. Far from a content and happy tiredness, this is a tense, burdensome, dissatisfying and, in the end, unbearable fatigue. 

This pastoral acedia can be caused by a number of things. Some fall into it because they throw themselves into unrealistic projects and are not satisfied simply to do what they reasonably can.

 Others, because they lack the patience to allow processes to mature; they want everything to fall from heaven. Others, because they are attached to a few projects or vain dreams of success. Others, because they have lost real contact with people and so depersonalize their work that they are more concerned with the road map than with the journey itself.

 Others fall into acedia because they are unable to wait; they want to dominate the rhythm of life. Today’s obsession with immediate results makes it hard for pastoral workers to tolerate anything that smacks of disagreement, possible failure, criticism, the cross.

Man sees a letter lying on his doormat.
It says on the envelope "DO NOT BEND ".
Man spends the next 2 hours trying to figure out how to pick it up (without bending down!)

Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:

Sun: Africa        Mon: Europe & Russia     Tues: South Asia      Wed: East Asia  
Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific       Frid: South America       Sat: Central & North America 
  
Jesus, today, Monday,  please bless the people of Europe & Russia

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 10th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Hubei

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 10th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Guinea

And praying for one Islam-related intention each day of the week:
Jesus, please pacify ISIS 

This website's Tanzania File
(stopping Africans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from Tanzanian inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

This website's South America file 
(stopping South Americans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from South American inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

This website's HK Asylum Seekers' File
(stopping South Asians from being "people smuggled" to HK)

"Same-sex marriage" file

Islam File    The New Translation
   

45. In some places, rural and urban alike, the privatization of certain spaces has restricted people’s access to places of particular beauty.

In others, “ecological” neighbourhoods have been created which are closed to outsiders in order to ensure an artificial tranquillity. 

Frequently, we find beautiful and carefully manicured green spaces in so-called “safer” areas of cities, but not in the more hidden areas where the disposable of society live.
------------

Frank Brennan    A trinity of questions about Laudato Si’
In the middle of this Canberra winter, I should also take to heart the Pope's observation, 'A person who could afford to spend and consume more but regularly uses less heating and wears warmer clothes, shows the kind of convictions and attitudes which help to protect the environment.' No doubt you will welcome the decision of the college authorities to turn down the heating tonight. This is where the rubber hits the road

I spent a large part of yesterday at two meetings discussing prison inmates:

Meeting in morning discussed prison conditions - which, to be honest, are among the best in the world. What is needed, I feel, is more P.R.  by the Correctional Services Department to let the wider community know just how good HK prisons are!

Meeting in afternoon discussed what can be done to stop the recent surge in Nigerian drug traffickers coming to HK. Each week I am greatly saddened to see another two or three Nigerians incarcerated in HK 

Exodus 32 (b)

When Moses, carrying the two tablets, came down the mountain,
he saw the people partying before the golden calf.

He threw down the tablets and broke them. He smashed the golden calf.

The men of the tribe of Levi were then commissioned to go through the camp and kill many men.
About 3,000 men were killed.  

Dear God, please don't let us ever worship anyone or anything except you

My recording of this reading

Psalm  84

How lovely is your sacred temple, Lord. My heart is longing to spend time in your holy dwelling.

Even sparrows  and swallows are your temple guests. They build homes for their young near your altar.

Blessed are the people who live and work in your temple. And blessed, too,  are people who keep  the memory of your temple in their hearts.

As they go through the troubles of life, you give them strength to face the trials of each day.

Lord, one day within your temple
is better than a thousand anywhere else.

Dear God, thank you for special places of prayer

Recording

Revelation 2.18-22

He gave me this message for the church in Thyatira:

"I know how charitable you are.
I see your faith and devotion, and your courage in suffering

But some of you are being misled by a false teacher. You are imitating her bad behavior

Listen to this message and repent"

Jesus, please don't let me imitate bad behavior

Recording

Matthew 20.29-34

As Jesus was leaving Jericho on his way to Jerusalem, many people followed him along the road.

Sitting by the road were two men who had become blind. When they heard that Jesus was going past, they called out "Son of David, have pity on us."

Some people tried to stop them from calling out, but they shouted even more loudly " Son of David, have pity on us."

Jesus stopped and said to them "What do you want me to do for you?" They replied "Lord, let us see again".

Jesus felt sorry for them. He touched their eyes, and straight away their sight returned.

Jesus, please heal my blind friend ....(name).... 

Recording

79. At times our media culture and some intellectual circles convey a marked scepticism with regard to the Church’s message, along with a certain cynicism. As a consequence, many pastoral workers, although they pray, develop a sort of inferiority complex which leads them to relativize or conceal their Christian identity and convictions.

 This produces a vicious circle. They end up being unhappy with who they are and what they do; they do not identify with their mission of evangelization and this weakens their commitment.

 They end up stifling the joy of mission with a kind of obsession about being like everyone else and possessing what everyone else possesses. Their work of evangelization thus becomes forced, and they devote little energy and very limited time to it.

Yesterday I needed to get a taxi to get to/from a place without bus service. Driver has been a cabbie for 37 years.
He stunned me by saying that when he started driving a taxi in 1978, the flag fall was HK$2.00!!! (Now it's $22!)

Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:

Sun: Africa        Mon: Europe & Russia     Tues: South Asia      Wed: East Asia  
Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific       Frid: South America       Sat: Central & North America 
  
Jesus, today, Friday,  please bless the people of South America

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 7th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Hebei

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 7th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Burkina Faso

And praying for one Islam-related intention each day of the week:
Jesus, on this Muslim day of prayer, please bless all Muslims!

This website's Tanzania File
(stopping Africans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from Tanzanian inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

This website's South America file 
(stopping South Americans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from South American inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

This website's HK Asylum Seekers' File
(stopping South Asians from being "people smuggled" to HK)

click to enlarge America Editorial   Aug 18, 1945!	click to enlarge Bomb was not necessary
Conclusion of Paul Ham: H & N (click to enlarge)

"Same-sex marriage" file

Islam File    The New Translation

44. Nowadays ... we are conscious of the disproportionate and unruly growth of many cities, which have become unhealthy to live in, not only because of pollution caused by toxic emissions but also as a result of urban chaos, poor transportation, and visual pollution and noise.

Many cities are huge, inefficient structures, excessively wasteful of energy and water. 

Neighbourhoods, even those recently built, are congested, chaotic and lacking in sufficient green space.

We were not meant to be inundated by cement, asphalt, glass and metal, and deprived of physical contact with nature.

May today's Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus give us hope and courage to do whatever we can to help transform our troubled word into a better place

c.f  Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus

Daniel 7

Once when Daniel was asleep, he had a vision of heaven:

"Thrones were put in place and one of great age took his seat.

His robe was white as snow, his hair as pure as wool.

A thousand thousand waited on him, ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

Then coming on the clouds of heaven was one like a son of man.

On him was conferred  glory and kingship, and people of all nations became his servants.

His kingship is eternal. His empire will never be destroyed."

Jesus, please help me understand that you are the "Son of Man"  whose kingship is eternal

My recording of this reading

Psalm 97

The Lord is king, let earth rejoice, the many coastlands be glad.

Cloud and darkness are his robes. His throne is justice and goodness.

The skies proclaim his goodness. All peoples see his glory.

Let those who serve idols be ashamed. Let all creation worship  the Creator.

Light shines forth for good people, and joy for the upright of heart.

Rejoice in the Lord, all good people. Give glory to his holy name.

Lord, you indeed are God of the universe

Recording

2 Peter 1.12-18

As long as I am in this passing world, my duty is to keep on reminding you of the truths we hold dear

Writing this letter is one way of making sure that after my departure you will still have a way of recalling the truths we hold dear

These truths are not cleverly invented myths. I myself saw the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ

He was honored and glorified by God the Father,  when the Sublime Glory himself spoke to him and said "This is my Son, the Beloved. He enjoys my favor"

I heard this myself, spoken from heaven, when I was with Jesus on the holy mountain

Jesus, Beloved Son, may more and more people accept the truth of your Good News

Recording

Mark 9.2-10

One day Jesus took his disciples Peter, James and John up a high mountain.

On the mountain Jesus' whole appearance changed. His face shone like the sun. His clothes were as white as snow.

Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with him. Peter said to Jesus "Lord, how good it is for us to be here!"

Then a bright cloud covered them with its shadow. From the cloud came a voice: "This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him."

The disciples bowed to the ground. When they got up, they saw only Jesus in his normal appearance.

Jesus, how good it is to spend time with you

Recording

Last night's ABC 7.30 Report from Australia
- about elderly and vulnerable people being duped into being drug mules - including several inmates in HK whom I regularly visit

Famous Chinese Christians

78. Today we are seeing in many pastoral workers, including consecrated men and women, an inordinate concern for their personal freedom and relaxation, which leads them to see their work as a mere appendage to their life, as if it were not part of their very identity. 

At the same time, the spiritual life comes to be identified with a few religious exercises which can offer a certain comfort but which do not encourage encounter with others, engagement with the world or a passion for evangelization.

 As a result, one can observe in many agents of evangelization, even though they pray, a heightened individualism, a crisis of identity and a cooling of fervour. These are three evils which fuel one another. 

Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:

Sun: Africa        Mon: Europe & Russia     Tues: South Asia      Wed: East Asia  
Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific       Frid: South America       Sat: Central & North America 
  
Jesus, today, Thursday,  please bless the people of S.E. Asia & Pacific

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 6th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Hainan

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 6th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Liberia

And praying for one Islam-related intention each day of the week:
Jesus, please pacify Al-Qaeda

This website's Tanzania File
(stopping Africans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from Tanzanian inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

This website's South America file 
(stopping South Americans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from South American inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

This website's HK Asylum Seekers' File
(stopping South Asians from being "people smuggled" to HK)

  

  "Same-sex marriage" file

Islam File    The New Translation

IV. DECLINE IN THE QUALITY OF HUMAN LIFE AND THE BREAKDOWN OF SOCIETY

43. Human beings too are creatures of this world, enjoying a right to life and happiness, and endowed with unique dignity.

 So we cannot fail to consider the effects on people’s lives of environmental deterioration, current models of development and the throwaway culture.

                                                     Click to enlarge:

Yesterday I followed my usual routine for the first Tuesday of the month: a morning visit to the men's section of Tuen Mun Immigration Detention Centre,  where in small groups I met with about 200 men, mainly from South Asia and Africa, nearly all asylum seekers.

Followed by a quick swim (wearing hat and shirt in searing heat!) and lunch at nearby Cafe Beach

Followed by afternoon visit to Tai Lam women's prison, where one happy job was a baptism for an inmate's baby  ...after which I learnt another term of prison language: "B Ma" means "mother of a baby"!

Exodus 32 (a)

Moses stayed on the mountain about 40 days.

During this time the people told Aaron to make them a god out of gold.

Aaron made a golden calf and the people worshipped it.

On the mountain, God said to Moses "Go down now, because the people have been unfaithful to me. I will punish them, but of you I will make a great nation."

Moses pleaded with God not to punish the people.

Lord, please help me to be faithful to you

Psalms 82-83

God says to corrupt officials:

"How long will you judge unjustly and mistreat the poor? You should do justice for the weak and the orphan.

You should defend the afflicted and the needy. You should rescue the weak and the poor. You should set them free from the hand of the wicked".

O God, please protect your people from corruption and injustice.
Save us also from attack by other nations.

Let everyone know that you are the Lord of all the earth.

Lord, please stop corrupt officials from hurting people

Recording

Revelation 2.12-16

He gave me this message for the church in Pergamum:

"I know you live in a place where idol worship is strong. I know you have stayed faithful, even after one of you was killed

But some of you have compromised yourselves by eating food sacrificed to idols. And some of you have followed false teachers

Listen to this message and repent"

Jesus, don't let me ever compromise my faith

Recording

Matthew 20.20-28

The brothers James and John were two of Jesus' disciples. One day their mother said to Jesus
"When you become king, allow my sons to sit at your right and left".

Jesus said to James and John
"Only my Father in heaven can allocate seats on my right and left". 

The 10 other disciples were angry at James and John for seeking honor. So Jesus said to them all

"In most places, people in power like to dominate and control others. But this is not to be your way of exercising authority.

You must exercise authority by serving others, not dominating them, just as I came not to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for the world".

Jesus, please help me want to help and serve other people,
not dominate and control them

Recording

Chris McDonnell (Wed UK blogger) 

Some seventy years later…
The days that led up to that fateful morning of August 6th when the US dropped the first atomic weapon on Hiroshima gave rise to a long poem, Original Child Bomb, written in 41 verses in 1962, by Thomas Merton. He recounts in a methodical, almost pedantic, way the decisions that led up to the final go-ahead for its use.

Full text of Original Child Bomb

c.f. India's Untold Genocide of the Nagas

Jesus, please give Dr Slaa special wisdom and courage at this difficult time!

Mbowe: Dr Slaa was against Lowassa move

My post at Jamii Forums

76. I feel tremendous gratitude to all those who are committed to working in and for the Church. Here I do not wish to discuss at length the activities of the different pastoral workers, from bishops down to those who provide the most humble and hidden services. Rather, I would like to reflect on the challenges that all of them must face in the context of our current globalized culture.

 But in justice, I must say first that the contribution of the Church in today’s world is enormous. The pain and the shame we feel at the sins of some members of the Church, and at our own, must never make us forget how many Christians are giving their lives in love. They help so many people to be healed or to die in peace in makeshift hospitals.

 They are present to those enslaved by different addictions in the poorest places on earth. They devote themselves to the education of children and young people. They take care of the elderly who have been forgotten by everyone else. They look for ways to communicate values in hostile environments. They are dedicated in many other ways to showing an immense love for humanity inspired by the God who became man.

 I am grateful for the beautiful example given to me by so many Christians who joyfully sacrifice their lives and their time. This witness comforts and sustains me in my own effort to overcome selfishness and to give more fully of myself.

Recently when I was sending a message to someone, in the message I said I would send an attachment, but then pressed "send" without attaching the attachment ....at which my dear computer posted the message: "You forgot to attach attachment"!  How good is that!

Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:

Sun: Africa        Mon: Europe & Russia     Tues: South Asia      Wed: East Asia  
Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific       Frid: South America       Sat: Central & North America 
  
Jesus, today, Wednesday,  please bless the people of East Asia

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 5th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Guizhou

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 5th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Chad

And praying for one Islam-related intention each day of the week:
Jesus, please pacify Al-Shabaab 

This website's Tanzania File
(stopping Africans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from Tanzanian inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

This website's South America file 
(stopping South Americans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from South American inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

This website's HK Asylum Seekers' File
(stopping South Asians from being "people smuggled" to HK)

"Same-sex marriage" file

Islam File    The New Translation

42. Greater investment needs to be made in research aimed at understanding more fully the functioning of ecosystems and adequately analyzing the different variables associated with any significant modification of the environment. 

Because all creatures are connected, each must be cherished with love and respect, for all of us as living creatures are dependent on one another.

Each area is responsible for the care of this family. This will require undertaking a careful inventory of the species which it hosts, with a view to developing programmes and strategies of protection with particular care for safeguarding species heading towards extinction.

Yesterday I had the joy of helping with bail for two inmates, one from Nigeria, one from Brazil - both asylum seekers - in detention for very minor offences. 

It's a particularly special feeling to be carrying release orders from a court house to a detention centre, knowing that in a couple of hours the orders will free the inmates.

Today will see the same joy, because when I broke the good news to the two inmates, they immediately asked me to help a third man, an asylum seeker from India (God bless the kind HK friends who make these acts of compassion possible!)

Exodus 31

God said to Moses:

"The Israelites must make the sabbath a holy day each week,
because the sabbath is a sign between you and me.

Do not do any ordinary work on the sabbath.

Work for six days, then rest on the sabbath.

Consecrate the sabbath to me."

God's words were inscribed on two stone tablets.

Dear God, please help us to make Sunday a holy day

Psalm 81

Ring out your joy to God our strength, shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.

Listen to the voice of the Lord:

"I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt.

Let there be no foreign god among you, no worship of a false god.

O that my people would heed me,
that Israel would walk in my ways.

At once I would subdue their foes. But Israel I would feed with finest wheat and honey".

Lord, please help us to walk in your ways

Recording

Revelation 2.8-10

He gave me this message for the church in Smyrna:

"I know the trials you have been through, and how poor you are, and the slanderous attacks that have been made on you.

Do not be afraid of suffering, afraid of prison. Even if you have to die, keep faithful, and I will give you the prize of eternal life"

Jesus, help me stay faithful when I experience trials and suffering

Recording

Recommended: check these readings early morning, think about them during the day, check them again at night. This habit gives us extra energy, courage, motivation, peace and compassion for each day

Matthew 20.1-16

Jesus said to his disciples: The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them the normal daily wage.

Then about 9am he went again to the market place. He saw more men without a job.  He got them also to go to his vineyard. He promised to pay them a fair wage.

About noon and again about 3pm he once more went to the market place and employed two more groups of men.

About 5pm he went one final time and employed one last group of men.

At sunset when the men came to be paid, the owner paid everyone a normal day's wage.  This made the dawn group unhappy.

They grumbled and said "We have done a full day's work in the heat. Yet we got the same as those who did only one hour's work. This is not fair!"

The owner replied "I am paying you what we agreed to. Why do you begrudge my generosity?"

Jesus, please help me not to be jealous of your gifts to others

Recording

Archbishop Dominic
 Savio Hon S.D.B.

Pope invites us to re-read our own personal story to make God credible

75. We cannot ignore the fact that in cities human trafficking, the narcotics trade, the abuse and exploitation of minors, the abandonment of the elderly and infirm, and various forms of corruption and criminal activity take place.

 (Also), what could be significant places of encounter and solidarity often become places of isolation and mutual distrust. Houses and neighbourhoods are more often built to isolate and protect than to connect and integrate. 

The proclamation of the Gospel will be a basis for restoring the dignity of human life in these contexts, for Jesus desires to pour out an abundance of life upon our cities.

 The unified and complete sense of human life that the Gospel proposes is the best remedy for the ills of our cities, even though we have to realize that a uniform and rigid program of evangelization is not suited to this complex reality.

 But to live our human life to the fullest and to meet every challenge as a leaven of Gospel witness in every culture and in every city will make us better Christians and bear fruit in our cities.

   Sent by a reader (a lady, not a man) in Australia:

Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:

Sun: Africa        Mon: Europe & Russia     Tues: South Asia      Wed: East Asia  
Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific       Frid: South America       Sat: Central & North America 
  
Jesus, today, Tuesday,  please bless the people of South Asia

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 4th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Guangdong

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 4th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Mozambique

And praying for one Islam-related intention each day of the week:
Jesus, please pacify Boko Haram 

This website's Tanzania File
(stopping Africans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from Tanzanian inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

This website's South America file 
(stopping South Americans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from South American inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

This website's HK Asylum Seekers' File
(stopping South Asians from being "people smuggled" to HK)