"Same-sex marriage" file

Islam File    The New Translation

58. In some countries, there are positive examples of environmental improvement: rivers, polluted for decades, have been cleaned up; native woodlands have been restored; landscapes have been beautified thanks to environmental renewal projects; beautiful buildings have been erected; advances have been made in the production of non-polluting energy and in the improvement of public transportation. 

These achievements do not solve global problems, but they do show that men and women are still capable of intervening positively. 

For all our limitations, gestures of generosity, solidarity and care cannot but well up within us, since we were made for love.

--------------------
   
'The ocean is broken' Nothing could have prepared Ivan for the garbage all around him as he sailed the Pacific

In January when I visited Tanzania, at one stage I was very near Kilimanjaro 

80% of Kilimanjaro snow lost 
- because of global warming, forest fires and increasing human activities

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

Expedition sheds light on Pacific garbage

Leviticus 16-17

Instructions for the annual Day of Atonement:

Once a year Aaron or his successor must wear special vestments, and enter the sanctuary  past the veil.

Then he is to offer two goats to pray for atonement for the whole community of Israel.

One goat will be sacrificed in the Temple; the other is to be set free to go out into the desert - a symbol of the people's sins being carried away. 
(this story gives us the English word: "scapegoat")

Dear God, please forgive us,  and help us to forgive others

My recording of this reading

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

Psalm 96

O sing a new song to the Lord. Sing to the Lord, all the earth. O sing to the Lord, bless his name.

Proclaim his help day by day. Tell among the nations his glory, and his wonders among all the peoples.

It was the Lord who made the heavens. Give the Lord, you families of peoples, give the Lord glory and honor.

Bring an offering and enter his temple. Worship the Lord in his sacred place.

Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad. Let the sea and all within it thunder praise.

Let the land and all it bears rejoice, all the trees of the forest shout for joy.

Everyone and everything, give the Lord glory and honor.

Lord, you are our Creator. We love and praise you

Recording

Revelation 14.6-13

I saw an angel flying high in the sky,  sent to announce the Good News of eternity to every nation, race, language and tribe

He was calling: "Honor God and praise him. Worship the maker of heaven and earth and sea. The time has come for him to judge the world"

A voice from heaven said to me
"Happy are those who are the Lord's friends when they die. Now they can rejoice for ever,
since their good deeds go with them"

Jesus, may I live, grow and die in your friendship

Recording

 Matthew 26.69-75

Peter went to the place where the religious leaders had Jesus on trial.
A young woman in the courtyard of the place  said to him "You are a friend of the Galilean".

In front of the woman and people around her Peter said "I don't know what you're talking about".

Peter went to the gateway of the place, where another woman said to people around her "This man is a friend of the Galilean". Peter replied strongly "I don't know the man".

Not long after this a group of people said to Peter "You are his friend. We can tell by your Galilean accent".

Then Peter even more strongly replied "I do not know the man".

At that very moment, a rooster crowed. Peter remembered Jesus' words "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times".   Peter went outside and wept loudly.

Jesus, please help me not to deny you. Give me courage to say "I am a Christian"

Recording

Wave of Vietnamese seeking illegal employment

From a reader in Australia

ABC Foreign Correspondent documentary:
China - Tales of a City
A diving stock market, a wobbling economy and a new security crackdown: where is China heading? Tapping into voices you’ve never heard, Stephen McDonell reports on the changing face of the superpower.

 Thai turmoil continues

97. Those who have fallen into this worldliness look on from above and afar, they reject the prophecy of their brothers and sisters, they discredit those who raise questions, they constantly point out the mistakes of others and they are obsessed by appearances.

Their hearts are open only to the limited horizon of their own immanence and interests, and as a consequence they neither learn from their sins nor are they genuinely open to forgiveness. 

This is a tremendous corruption disguised as a good. We need to avoid it by making the Church constantly go out from herself, keeping her mission focused on Jesus Christ, and her commitment to the poor.

God save us from a worldly Church with superficial spiritual and pastoral trappings!

This stifling worldliness can only be healed by breathing in the pure air of the Holy Spirit who frees us from self-centredness cloaked in an outward religiosity bereft of God. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of the Gospel!

My regular article in today's Ming Pao newspaper
with the topic: Explosives: Tianjin and Hong Kong 
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 

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 25th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Ningxia

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 25th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Comoros

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

57. It is foreseeable that, once certain resources have been depleted, the scene will be set for new wars, albeit under the guise of noble claims. War always does grave harm to the environment and to the cultural riches of peoples, risks which are magnified when one considers nuclear arms and biological weapons.

“Despite the international agreements which prohibit chemical, bacteriological and biological warfare, the fact is that laboratory research continues to develop new offensive weapons capable of altering the balance of nature”.[34]

Politics must pay greater attention to foreseeing new conflicts and addressing the causes which can lead to them. But powerful financial interests prove most resistant to this effort, and political planning tends to lack breadth of vision. 

What would induce anyone, at this stage, to hold on to power only to be remembered for their inability to take action when it was urgent and necessary to do so?

Keith Olbermann on "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission"

Must admit I can't remember this happening: US Supreme Court made it legal for corporations to do unlimited financial lobbying in elections. Man in picture says that in 10 years most US politicians will be prostitutes ... people who have sold their souls to big corporations

This whole business is put simply in cartoon form:  The Story of Citizens United v. FEC

Leviticus 13-15

Instructions for hygiene:

People with skin diseases, suspected leprosy, boils and burns, should be carefully examined and isolated if necessary.

The clothing and homes of people with leprosy should be put out of use.

During and after seminal or illness discharges and menstruation,
people  should show extra concern for hygiene

Dear God, please help me take good care of my health

My recording of this reading

Psalm  95  

Come ring out our joy to the Lord. Hail the rock who saves us. Let us come before him giving thanks. With songs let us praise the Lord.

A mighty God is the Lord, a great king above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth. The heights of the mountains are his. To him belongs the sea, for he made it, and the dry land shaped by his hands.

Come in, let us bow and bend low. Let us kneel before the God who made us.

For he is our God, and we are the people who belong to his pasture.

Lord, you are our Creator. Our life comes from you. We praise and love you, Lord

Recording

Revelation 13.2-12

The dragon gave authority and power to a beast with seven heads.

For a time, the beast waged war on the saints

Then I saw a second beast. It was a servant of the first beast, and made people everywhere worship the first beast

Father, Son and Holy Spirit - may people worship you, and not worship Satan and the two beasts

Recording

For today's feast of St Bartholomew:

John 1.35-51

John the Baptist told his disciples Andrew and John that Jesus was the Chosen One of God.  Andrew and John then followed Jesus

Andrew took his brother Simon to Jesus. Jesus changed Simon's name to Peter, and Peter followed Jesus

Jesus met  Philip and said to him "Follow me".  Philip called one more man, Nathanael (Bartholomew) and said to him "we have found the one Moses and the prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth"

Jesus, please help me introduce more people to know and love you

Recording

I Saw You Under The Fig Tree
I often wonder whom does Jesus Christ see under the fig tree and where, in this time, in our secular and religious history

Fr Jerry Novotny O.M.I.

96. This way of thinking also feeds the vainglory of those who are content to have a modicum of power and would rather be the general of a defeated army than a mere private in a unit which continues to fight.

 How often we dream up vast apostolic projects, meticulously planned, just like defeated generals! But this is to deny our history as a Church, which is glorious precisely because it is a history of sacrifice, of hopes and daily struggles, of lives spent in service and fidelity to work, tiring as it may be, for all work is “the sweat of our brow”.

 Instead, we waste time talking about “what needs to be done” – in Spanish we call this the sin of “habriaqueísmo” – like spiritual masters and pastoral experts who give instructions from on high. We indulge in endless fantasies and we lose contact with the real lives and difficulties of our people.

In my sermons at Mass yesterday, as a way of encouraging people to remember Joshua 24.15 (yesterday's first reading: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord") I said, jokingly, that 24 and 15 might be good lottery numbers. O dear, if those numbers appear, so might a lot of extra people at Mass next Sunday hoping for another tip!?

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 24th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Inner Mongolia

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 24th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Zambia

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)

"In the endless search for more growth for ourselves, we have no choice but to take from everyone else and destroy our planet.  After 400 years of capitalism, 40 per cent of the world’s wealth is owned by 1 per cent of its people, leaving only 1 per cent of the wealth for the poorest 50 per cent. We spend more money on ice cream in Western Europe than it would cost to feed the entire world, and I believe that the same is true of pet food. The three richest people in the world own more assets than the 600 million poorest" - Paul Moore (Tablet, 2012)

"Same-sex marriage" file

Islam File    The New Translation
   

54. It is remarkable how weak international political responses have been. The failure of global summits on the environment make it plain that our politics are subject to technology and finance. 

There are too many special interests, and economic interests easily end up trumping the common good and manipulating information so that their own plans will not be affected. 

The Aparecida Document urges that “the interests of economic groups which irrationally demolish sources of life should not prevail in dealing with natural resources”.[32] The alliance between the economy and technology ends up sidelining anything unrelated to its immediate interests. 

Consequently the most one can expect is superficial rhetoric, sporadic acts of philanthropy and perfunctory expressions of concern for the environment, whereas any genuine attempt by groups within society to introduce change is viewed as a nuisance based on romantic illusions or an obstacle to be circumvented.

------------------
"We are starting to destroy ourselves"
South and South East Asia Church leaders share concerns about climate crisis

I am now over half way through the above book. The more I read, the more I am saddened and alarmed at what Beijing is doing to the world. It's as bad, if not worse than what Western powers did to poor parts of the world in previous centuries (...and indeed are still doing in some places...)

Below please see some pages from this book, describing the situation in Burma. These pages have changed my thinking about all the jade I see for sale in HK

Leviticus 11-12

The people were  told which animals were "clean" and which were "unclean".

Only "clean" animals were allowed to be eaten.

Regulations were also made for when a woman had a baby: a lamb or two turtledoves or two young pigeons were to be offered as a prayer for mother and baby.

Dear God, please give me a clean heart

My recording of this reading

Psalm  94

O Lord,  Judge of the earth, how long will the wicked crush the poor?

The wicked say "God does not hear". But can he who made the ear, not hear?

Blessed are those whom the Lord teaches. The Lord gives them peace in troubled times.

When cares increase in my heart,
God's consolation calms my soul.

Lord, when cares and troubles increase, please  help us to trust in you.

Recording

Revelation 12.7-14

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought the dragon and his angels

Michael won. Satan and his followers were driven out of heaven

The great dragon, the serpent, known as the Devil or Satan,
was hurled down to earth. His angels were hurled down with him

The dragon began to make war on the children of the Woman  - those who obey God and bear witness to Jesus

Jesus, may your holy angels protect us from Satan

Recording

Matthew 26.57-68

The men who arrested Jesus took him to a meeting of the religious leaders. The leaders wanted to condemn Jesus to death, even if they had to use false evidence.

Jesus remained silent before their accusations. Then the main leader challenged Jesus: "Are you the Saviour, the Son of God?"

Jesus replied "Yes". The main leader then called out "We have heard him claim to be of Divine origin. This is blasphemy".

The rest of the leaders shouted "He should die". Then they spat in Jesus' face and hit him with their fists.

Jesus, thank you for submitting yourself to insult and spittle
for the salvation of the world

Recording

Chinese ready meals to be exported to Tanzania

93. Spiritual worldliness, which hides behind the appearance of piety and even love for the Church, consists in seeking not the Lord’s glory but human glory and personal well-being. It is what the Lord reprimanded the Pharisees for: “How can you believe, since you look to one another for approval, and are not concerned with the approval that comes from the one God? (Jn 5.44 JB translation) 

It is a subtle way of seeking one’s “own interests, not those of Jesus Christ” (Phil 2:21). It takes on many forms, depending on the kinds of persons and groups into which it seeps

".... noisy motor-taxis that sound their horns as they make their way through the crowd. The aim is apparently to honk as much as possible even when it isn't necessary - the unspoken law of Indian roads"
- p. 220, China's Silent Army, by Cardenal & Araujo

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 21st of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Yunnan

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 21st of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Benin

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)

"Same-sex marriage" file

Islam File    The New Translation

 53. These situations have caused sister earth, along with all the abandoned of our world, to cry out, pleading that we take another course. Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years.

Yet we are called to be instruments of God our Father, so that our planet might be what he desired when he created it and correspond with his plan for peace, beauty and fullness.

The problem is that we still lack the culture needed to confront this crisis. We lack leadership capable of striking out on new paths and meeting the needs of the present with concern for all and without prejudice towards coming generations. 

The establishment of a legal framework which can set clear boundaries and ensure the protection of ecosystems has become indispensable; otherwise, the new power structures based on the techno-economic paradigm may overwhelm not only our politics but also freedom and justice.

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

These past few days Muslim scholars, politicians, leaders and activists have gathered in Istanbul to agree the final wording of the biggest Muslim Declaration on Climate Change the world has ever seen. Video report

Leviticus 8-10

Moses followed God's instructions and ordained Aaron and his sons as priests.

Moses washed them, put special clothing on them, anointed their heads with chrism, and offered a special animal sacrifice on their behalf.

Then Aaron lifted up his hands towards the people and blessed them.

A  flame from the Lord consumed the offering on the altar. The people shouted for joy and fell on their knees.

But later on when two of Aaron's sons offered unauthorized fire, a fire from the Lord consumed them.

Moses then said: "God expects the highest standard from priests".

Dear God, please bless and protect all priests

My recording of this reading

Psalm 93

The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed, he has girded himself with power.

The world you made firm, not to be moved. From all eternity, O Lord, you are.

The oceans and coastlines of the world are majestic and powerful.

But greater than the roar of mighty waters, more glorious than the surging of the sea, is the Lord on high.

Such a Lord, such a Creator, such a God. Truly your decrees are to be trusted.

Holiness is fitting to your house O Lord, always and everywhere.

We praise you, Lord, our Creator

Recording

Revelation 8.1-11.18

I saw how punishment is coming for all evil doers on the earth

I heard voices shouting: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ. He will reign for ever and ever"

The 24 elders worshipped God saying:

"We give thanks to you, Almighty Lord God. The time has come for everyone to be judged. The time has come for good people to be rewarded, and bad people to be punished"

Jesus, please help bad people stop being bad

Recording

Matthew 26.47-56

While Jesus was still speaking, Judas arrived. Judas had with him a large crowd of men with swords and clubs, sent by the religious leaders

Judas had told these men "The one I kiss is the man. Take him".
So Judas went up to Jesus, said "Greetings, Master" and kissed him. The men then seized Jesus

Jesus said to them "Am I a robber that you needed to capture me
with swords and clubs?  Day after day I was openly teaching in the Temple"

All of Jesus' apostles then deserted him and ran away

Jesus, when I feel I am being treated unfairly by other people,
may your arrest give me strength

Recording

A dose of caution about China’s ‘opening’ to the Pope (John Allen)
Francis has certainly taken an interest in reaching out, last September dispatching a handwritten note via an Argentine friend who’s not part of the Vatican diplomatic corps inviting Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit him in Rome.

Why up the crackdown on Christians?  ("up", "down" ...not best English for headline?)
Man in charge of cross crackdown is Zhejian Communist Party Secretary Xia Baolong. His predecessor was a man called Xi Jinping...who must know about and must have approved and possibly suggested the crackdown. Which is scary. 

China faces increasing pushback on cross removals

Healing through ministry
On her visit to Australia, Sister Angelique Namaika calls attention to the plight of women who are victims of violence and sexual slavery in war-torn Congo (DRC) and talks about her work helping them overcome trauma and rebuild their lives

Famous Chinese Christians

Yesterday after my regular Wednesday visit to a correctional institution on Hei Ling Chau Island, I attended a meeting which discussed the growing crisis situation of asylum seekers in HK ...their numbers have almost doubled to more than 10,000 in the past year ....and their conditions are deteriorating as rent and food prices rise ....resulting in more and more asylum seekers trying to find money by working illegally (..they're not allowed to do any work, even volunteer work) ...and also getting money through criminal activities.

c.f. 16 arrested for immigration breaches

 92. There indeed we find true healing, since the way to relate to others which truly heals instead of debilitating us, is a mystical fraternity, a contemplative fraternity. 

It is a fraternal love capable of seeing the sacred grandeur of our neighbour, of finding God in every human being, of tolerating the nuisances of life in common by clinging to the love of God, of opening the heart to divine love and seeking the happiness of others just as (our) heavenly Father does.

Here and now, especially where we are a “little flock”, the Lord’s disciples are called to live as a community which is the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We are called to bear witness to a constantly new way of living together in fidelity to the Gospel. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of community!

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 20th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Sichuan

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 20th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Gambia

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

52 (b): The poorest areas and countries are less capable of adopting new models for reducing environmental impact because they lack the wherewithal to develop the necessary processes and to cover their costs.

We must continue to be aware that, regarding climate change, there are differentiated responsibilities.

As the United States bishops have said, greater attention must be given to “the needs of the poor, the weak and the vulnerable, in a debate often dominated by more powerful interests”.[31] 

We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family. There are no frontiers or barriers, political or social, behind which we can hide, still less is there room for the globalization of indifference.

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

Asian Catholic leaders call for 'practical solutions' to climate crisis

Yesterday I visited a number of inmates in the custodial ward and general wards of a local hospital. 

One thing for sure: such inmates are indeed fortunate to have top medical treatment. Very few countries offer such high standard medical care to inmates. And it's free.

"That's how many cell mates I put in hospital for stepping on my fingers when they climbed to the upper bunk"

Leviticus 1.1-7

Moses instructed the people:

As a sign that you are asking God for forgiveness, put your hand on an animal's head as you sacrifice it to the Lord.

Dear God, please forgive my sins

Psalm 92

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning, and your truth right through the night.

Your deeds, O Lord, have made me glad. For the work of your hands, I shout with joy.

To me you give the wild ox's strength. You anoint me with the purest oil.

May we love and praise you right through our lives, right till the end of our days.

May we keep on proclaiming your goodness, proclaiming that in you, our rock, there is only goodness.

Lord, it is right and fitting to love 

Recording

Matthew 26.30-46 (a)

After their last meal, Jesus said to his apostles "Tonight all of you will desert me".

Peter said "I will never desert you". Jesus replied "Tonight before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times".

They came to a place with olive trees called Gethsemane.

Jesus took Peter, James and John to a part of that area and asked them to pray with him.

Recording

Matthew 26.30-46 (b)

Jesus was overcome with sadness and fear. He said to them "Sadness is filling my heart, as if my heart is dying. Please support me as I pray."

Then he fell on his face and prayed for about an hour: "Father, don't let this suffering continue. But your will be done".

He stood up and found that the apostles were asleep. He said to them "Couldn't you stay awake one hour to support me?"

Three times he prayed the same way. Three times the apostles went to sleep.

Then he said "Get ready. The one who is betraying me is coming".

Jesus, please help me give more time to prayer

Recording

Chris McDonnell (Wed UK blogger) 

Let's go fly a kite or two
The Net has opened up discussion within the Church in a totally new way, for all have access and all can contribute. No longer are the issues of faith the preserve of a clerical caste, using esoteric language. Others, speaking from a different experience, have access to the exchange. And that is good. Ownership of a principle, after public examination, is a surer way to faith commitment than the imposition of an idea, with no questions asked.

Chinese tourists in Zambia (Tanzania)
(video: sound in Cantonese, sight in Everyonese)
- visiting market ....and meeting an American woman helping poor children (she was so moved by what she saw on a previous visit, she went back to US, sold her home, and with proceeds started a project in Zambia to help poor children)

"Same-sex marriage"

Three reasons marriage should not be redefined

God bless Hilton!

A tale of two cities – fabulously wealthy or agonizingly destitute?
No wonder it is not uncommon in HK, as probably in many other places, to see poor people spending long periods, sometimes a whole night, at McDonald's (..God bless the kind managers who allow this..) all the time watching to see if any customers leave some uneaten food when they leave

Songs of Praise shows the Calais migrants do not sing alone

91. One important challenge is to show that the solution will never be found in fleeing from a personal and committed relationship with God which at the same time commits us to serving others. 

This happens frequently nowadays, as believers seek to hide or keep apart from others, or quietly flit from one place to another or from one task to another, without creating deep and stable bonds. 

 This is a false remedy which cripples the heart and at times the body as well. We need to help others to realize that the only way is to learn how to encounter others with the right attitude, which is to accept and esteem them as companions along the way, without interior resistance. 

Better yet, it means learning to find Jesus in the faces of others, in their voices, in their pleas. And learning to suffer in the embrace of the crucified Jesus whenever we are unjustly attacked or meet with ingratitude, never tiring of our decision to live in fraternity.

Robert Mickens

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 19th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Shanxi

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 19th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Sudan

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

52 (a): The foreign debt of poor countries has become a way of controlling them, yet this is not the case where ecological debt is concerned. 

In different ways, developing countries, where the most important reserves of the biosphere are found, continue to fuel the development of richer countries at the cost of their own present and future. 

The land of the southern poor is rich and mostly unpolluted, yet access to ownership of goods and resources for meeting vital needs is inhibited by a system of commercial relations and ownership which is structurally perverse. 

The developed countries ought to help pay this debt by significantly limiting their consumption of non-renewable energy and by assisting poorer countries to support policies and programmes of sustainable development

The darkness deepens in our troubled world, with intensified attacks on Christianity and Christian values:

* Christians in some parts of US are now not allowed to use government buildings (because they oppose  "same-sex marriage" - here - which also describes how schools are forcing a gay agenda on students)

* In so many parts of the world there's been a rise in the physical persecution of Christians 

* Such persecution has led Pope Francis to use the terms "World War III" and "genocide"

 ... this reflection continued below

Exodus 40

God said to Moses: "On the first day of the first month, consecrate and start using the Tent of Meeting. Use chrism to anoint all the furnishings. Anoint Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests."

Moses did everything that God asked.

Then a cloud covered the Tent
and the glory of God filled the sacred site.

At every stage of their  journey in the desert, the Israelites would continue their march whenever the cloud rose from the sacred site.

A fire shone within the cloud at night.

Dear God, please guide us on our way through life

Psalm 91

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, says to the Lord "you are my refuge in whom I trust".

The Lord will hide you and protect you. Under his wings you will find refuge.

You will not fear any night time terror, nor any attack during the day.

Upon you no evil shall fall, no plague approach where you dwell.

For you has he commanded his angels to keep you safe in all your ways.

Dear God, thank you for your protection day and night

Recording

Revelation 7.9-17

I saw a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, and language

They were standing in front of the throne, with palms in their hands.
They shouted: "Victory to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb"

One of the elders told me who these people are: "These are the people who have been through the great persecution. They now serve God day and night in his sanctuary. The Lamb is their Shepherd. He leads them to springs of living water. God has wiped away all tears from their eyes"

Jesus, please help sorrowing people who are crying today

Recording

Matthew 26.17-29

On Passover Eve, Jesus ate a last meal with his apostles.

While they were eating, Jesus told them he knew he would be betrayed by one of them. He told Judas he knew he was the betrayer.

Then Jesus took some bread, blessed it and gave it to his apostles saying "Take this and eat it. This is my body".

Then he took a cup of wine, blessed it and gave it to them saying "Take this and drink it. This is my blood".

Jesus, please help me understand how bread and wine become your body and blood when Christians celebrate the Eucharist

Recording

The darkness deepens  - continued from top of menu

* Beijing's continuing crackdown on Christians in China

* The increase of drug trafficking and use of drugs

* The continuing spread of pornography

* The continued growth of the abortion industry

* The growth of the culture of indifference, the culture of greed/corruption, the exploitation of the poor, the growing poverty gap in most places

* Within Christianity there are good people who, for the sake of political correctness or whatever reason, are not only not speaking out against the darkness, but are even supporting its spread (e.g. the many Catholic (?) websites which promote the gay agenda).   

Is there a link between so many areas of darkness? The Bible reminds us that wherever we find goodness, God is there; wherever we find "darkness", the Prince of Darkness (Satan) is connected. Our battle is a spiritual one as much as a human one.  

The worse the darkness gets, the more we need to pray, read the Bible, work with other Christians to stand up for Christian values.

As the darkness worsens, we can expect more conflict situations. The late Cardinal Francis George O.M.I. of Chicago was seen by many to be exaggerating when he said in 2010 "I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history."  The further we go in 2015, the less these words seem to be an exaggeration.

As Christians are pushed into a corner in the US, some people are already talking about Civil War II

Jesus, Light of the World, stronger than Satan, may your light overcome the spreading darkness. May there be a great explosion of love and healing in our troubled world to stop the spreading darkness!

HK's Cardinal Zen calls China cross removals an insult to the faith

"Same-sex marriage" 

90. Genuine forms of popular religiosity are incarnate, since they are born of the incarnation of Christian faith in popular culture. For this reason they entail a personal relationship, not with vague spiritual energies or powers, but with God, with Christ, with Mary, with the saints. 

These devotions are fleshy, they have a face. They are capable of fostering relationships and not just enabling escapism. 

 In other parts of our society, we see the growing attraction to various forms of a “spirituality of well-being” divorced from any community life, or to a “theology of prosperity” detached from responsibility for our brothers and sisters, or to depersonalized experiences which are nothing more than a form of self-centredness.

Yesterday at Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre I had a quick game of table tennis with an inmate in one of the day rooms ...to the amusement of many other inmates (...actually, a good way of making friends and breaking the ice). Some of them asked me my age, and complimented me on being able to play so well for an old feller. That makes up for a recent night on the street in Yau Ma Tei, as people lined up for rice boxes, when one man, in all seriousness ...not trying to be funny ...asked me "Father, are you 90 yet?"!

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 18th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Shandong

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 18th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Ivory Coast

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)