Islam File    The New Translation

"Same-sex marriage" file

211 (a): Yet this education, aimed at creating an “ecological citizenship”, is at times limited to providing information, and fails to instil good habits.

The existence of laws and regulations is insufficient in the long run to curb bad conduct, even when effective means of enforcement are present.

If the laws are to bring about significant, long-lasting effects, the majority of the members of society must be adequately motivated to accept them, and personally transformed to respond. 

Only by cultivating sound virtues will people be able to make a selfless ecological commitment. 

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.

Cuba - From antagonist to a global diplomatic player  "If it carries on like this, Cuba will become the capital of unity" said Pope Francis

Pope Francis urges Mexico to vanquish drugs scourge

Pope Francis warns Mexico City crowd against 'dialogue with the devil'

Reports of all Pope's speeches and activities in Mexico - here !

2 Kings 2-3

The Lord revealed to Elisha and other prophets that Elijah would be taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.

Elisha said to Elijah "Let me inherit a double share of your spirit."

Then a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.

The spirit of Elijah then came to rest on Elisha and he began to do miracles by the power of the Lord.

Holy Spirit of God, please increase your influence in my life

Psalm 103

My soul, give thanks to the Lord.
All my being, bless his holy name. My soul, give thanks to the Lord
and never forget all his blessings.

It is he who forgives all your guilt, who heals every one of your ills. It is he who fills your life with good things, renewing your youth like an eagle's life.

The Lord is compassion and love,
slow to anger and rich in mercy. As the heavens are high above the earth, so strong is his love for those who love him.

As far as the East is from the West, so far does he remove our sins. As a father has compassion on his children, the Lord has pity on all who love and honor him.

Give thanks to the Lord, all his angels, who heed the voice of his word. Give thanks to the Lord, everyone and everything. My soul, give thanks to the Lord!

Thank you, Lord, for your love and compassion

Recording 

1 Corinthians 5.8-11

Get rid of all evil and wickedness from your life. Replace them with sincerity and truth

People who do wrong will not inherit the kingdom of God: people of immoral lives, idolaters, adulterers, catamites, sodomites, thieves, usurers, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers

Some of you were like that once, but now you have been washed clean and sanctified by Jesus Christ and his Spirit

Jesus, help me avoid doing bad things. Help me do more good things

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

 Luke 18.15-17

People brought little children to Jesus, for him to bless them. The disciples told the people to go away and not bother Jesus

But Jesus called the children to him and said "Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs

I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child, will never enter it"

Jesus, please give all children the chance to know and love you

Recording 

Ice worth AUD$1 billion seized - HK/China arrests
Law enforcement agencies have seized $1 billion of ice in the largest drug bust of liquid methamphetamine in Australia's history. Three Hong Kong nationals and one Chinese national have been charged

Woman from Dubai flight arrested at HK airport for trafficking

I've heard a lot about underground churches in China, but this is my first time to hear about underground banks:
China vows action against underground banks

Vigil for baby Asha at the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital 
Over the last few days hundreds of people across Brisbane joined the vigil outside Lady Cilento Children's Hospital. They're standing in support of 1-year-old baby Asha and her brave doctors, who are refusing to release her into abusive immigration detention. This marks the first time a state government institution has offered sanctuary, and with support from the Premier and health minister.

Ivory trafficking in Africa controlled by a powerful few
(notice mention of Mombasa)

230:  The message of peace is not about a negotiated settlement but rather the conviction that the unity brought by the Spirit can harmonize every diversity. 

It overcomes every conflict by creating a new and promising synthesis.

 Diversity is a beautiful thing when it can constantly enter into a process of reconciliation and seal a sort of cultural covenant resulting in a “reconciled diversity”.

 As the bishops of the Congo have put it: “Our ethnic diversity is our wealth… It is only in unity, through conversion of hearts and reconciliation, that we will be able to help our country to develop on all levels”

My regular article in today's Ming Pao newspaper
with the topic: Violence not the way to solve HK's problems
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 16th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Qinghai

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 16th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Afghanistan

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)

Reports of all Pope's speeches and activities in Mexico - here !

Islam File    The New Translation

"Same-sex marriage" file

210. Environmental education has broadened its goals. Whereas in the beginning it was mainly centred on scientific information, consciousness-raising and the prevention of environmental risks, it tends now to include a critique of the “myths” of a modernity grounded in a utilitarian mindset (individualism, unlimited progress, competition, consumerism, the unregulated market).

It seeks also to restore the various levels of ecological equilibrium, establishing harmony within ourselves, with others, with nature and other living creatures, and with God. 

Environmental education should facilitate making the leap towards the transcendent which gives ecological ethics its deepest meaning.

It needs educators capable of developing an ethics of ecology, and helping people, through effective pedagogy, to grow in solidarity, responsibility and compassionate care.

2 Kings 1

Ahaziah, king of Israel, was seriously ill after a fall. He tried to send messengers to the temple of a false god to ask about his future.

But the Lord sent Elijah the prophet to intercept the messengers and tell them that the king would die.

The king sent 50 soldiers to arrest Elijah but as they approached Elijah, fire from heaven destroyed them.

The king sent another 50 soldiers.
They too were destroyed by fire from heaven.

A third group of 50 was sent. They begged Elijah to spare them.
The Lord told Elijah to go with them to the king.

Elijah then told the king to his face that he would soon die
because he had tried to ask a false god about his future. Not long after this, Ahaziah died.

Dear Lord, please don't let us ever get involved with false religion
My recording of this reading

Psalm 102

O Lord, listen to my prayer in my distress. Do not hide your face from me.

For my days are vanishing like smoke, my bones burn away like a fire.

I forget to eat my bread. My skin clings to my bones.

All day long my foes revile me.
Those who hate me use my name as a curse.

But you, O Lord, will endure for ever. You will arise and have mercy on Sion.

You will hear the groans of the prisoners and free those condemned to die.

I pray to you: "Do not take me away before my time has come,
you whose days last from age to age.

Lord, please help people who are in great distress 

Recording 

Romans 4.15-19

You now have many people teaching you about Christ, but remember that it was I who introduced you to Jesus and his Good News

Imitate my example, the way I live the Christian life

Jesus, help me be a good example to other people

Recording 

Luke 18.9-14

Some people prided themselves on being virtuous, and despised others. Jesus told them this story:

Two men went to the Temple to pray, one a religious leader, the other a social outcast

The leader stood there and said "I thank you, God, that I am not greedy, unjust and adulterous like other people such as this outcast here"

The outcast did not even raise his eyes, but beat his breast and said "God, be merciful to me, a sinner"

The outcast, I tell you, went home a friend of God. The leader did not. People who exalt themselves will be humbled. People who humble themselves will be exalted

Jesus, be merciful to me, a sinner

Recording 

BOOK REVIEW

Joy and Hope, Pat Power

Reviewed by Rose Marie Crowe

Bishop Pat Power is the de facto voice of the Catholic Church in Australia. For over thirty years as bishop, he has articulated the position of the church from a profound commitment to the principles of Vatican II, applied to every sector of society. The media recognise in him a credible source and readily appeal to him to speak to social justice issues as they arise. His viewpoint, offered in simple but direct language, is often received with relief as a beacon of commonsense and hope. Joy and Hope: Pilgrim, Priest and Bishop, a compilation of Pat Power’s speeches, articles, letters and autobiographical reminiscences, is published on his retirement at the age of 70. It is difficult to believe that Pat has reached this venerable age, because he projects a youthful exuberance, a love of life, of all people, and of his church. It is this inherent joy that impels him to speak out in defence of marginalised people in every conceivable form of deprivation. A lifetime of outreach is chronicled in these pages. (READ REVIEW HERE)

229: This principle, drawn from the Gospel, reminds us that Christ has made all things one in himself: heaven and earth, God and man, time and eternity, flesh and spirit, person and society. The sign of this unity and reconciliation of all things in him is peace. Christ “is our peace” (Eph 2:14 ).

The Gospel message always begins with a greeting of peace, and peace at all times crowns and confirms the relations between the disciples.

 Peace is possible because the Lord has overcome the world and its constant conflict “by making peace through the blood of his cross”  

But if we look more closely at these biblical texts, we find that the locus of this reconciliation of differences is within ourselves, in our own lives, ever threatened as they are by fragmentation and breakdown. If hearts are shattered in thousands of pieces, it is not easy to create authentic peace in society.

10 years ago today

Aussie man who woke from coma speaking Chinese finds TV match

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 15th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Liaoning

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 15th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Zimbabwe

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)

Islam File    The New Translation

"Same-sex marriage" file   

207. The Earth Charter asked us to leave behind a period of self-destruction and make a new start, but we have not as yet developed a universal awareness needed to achieve this.

Here, I would echo that courageous challenge: “As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning… Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life”.[148]

Please join me in praying for a prison inmate fighting cancer whom I visited at a local hospital yesterday morning: Jesus, please tsunami that dear inmate with your healing love

Yesterday afternoon a visitor from Australia and I met with an asylum seeker from Africa, just out of detention, who is going through the difficult process of deciding whether to try to stay in HK or return "empty handed" to Africa. May the Good Lord help him make the right decision

1 Kings 20-21

King Ahab wanted the vineyard of Naboth, but Naboth refused to sell his ancestral inheritance.

Ahab's wife Jezebel then had Naboth murdered and Ahab took the vineyard.

The prophet Elijah  confronted Ahab for his crime. Ahab then repented of his crime.

Dear God, please help us respect other people's property

My recording of this reading 

Psalm 100

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing for joy.

Know that he, the Lord, is God. He made us, we belong to him.
We are his people, the sheep of his flock.

Go within his gates, giving thanks. Enter his temple with songs of praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.

Indeed, how good is the Lord,
eternal his merciful love. He is faithful from age to age.

Recording  

1 Corinthians 1.18 - 2.9

The language of the Cross doesn't make sense for some people. But for us it is God's power to save

While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks require philosophy, here we are preaching a crucified Christ: to the Jews an obstacle they cannot get over, to the pagans madness

During my stay with you, I relied not on philosophy or my own efforts, but only on the power of the Spirit

The wisdom we teach is about things no eye has seen, and no ear has heard, things beyond human understanding - all that God has prepared for those who love him

Jesus, crucified Lord, please increase my faith in you

Recording   

Luke 17.11-19

On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus entered a village where 10 lepers came to meet him. They stood at a distance and called out "Jesus, Master, take pity on us!"

Jesus said to them "Go and show yourselves to the priests". As they went away, their leprosy disappeared.

Seeing that he was healed, one of them turned back praising God at the top of his voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him.

This made Jesus say "Were not all 10 healed? Where are the 9 others?"

Jesus, please don't let me forget to say "thank you" when someone helps me

Recording  

George Monbiot

226: Conflict cannot be ignored or concealed. It has to be faced. But if we remain trapped in conflict, we lose our perspective, our horizons shrink and reality itself begins to fall apart. In the midst of conflict, we lose our sense of the profound unity of reality.

10 years ago today

2006-02-12 Mazenod Center Sunday night meal for migrant worker families

Today's first Bible reading mentions Naboth. When I was in Uganda recently I met a man named Naboth.  With a smile (.. he knows his Bible, like most Ugandans ...) he said "No" when I asked him if he owned a vineyard!

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 12th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Jiangsu

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 12th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Guinea-Bissau

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)

Islam File    The New Translation

"Same-sex marriage" file

206. A change in lifestyle could bring healthy pressure to bear on those who wield political, economic and social power. 

This is what consumer movements accomplish by boycotting certain products. They prove successful in changing the way businesses operate, forcing them to consider their environmental footprint and their patterns of production. 

When social pressure affects their earnings, businesses clearly have to find ways to produce differently.

This shows us the great need for a sense of social responsibility on the part of consumers. “Purchasing is always a moral – and not simply economic – act”.[146] 

Today, in a word, “the issue of environmental degradation challenges us to examine our lifestyle”.[147]

Yesterday I went to Shek Pik Prison and Tong Fuk Correctional Institution to visit inmates whose families I recently met in Kenya and Uganda.

As I travelled by train and bus, it was lovely to see so many people out and about in family and friendship groups for the final public holiday of Lunar New Year.

Especially as I watched young families, I thought to myself: that's the real Hong Kong .... not the rioters in Mong Kok last Monday night.

1 Kings 19

Elijah once spent a night in a cave. The Lord then told him to stand at the mouth of the cave.

Then there was a mighty wind that shattered trees and rocks.
But the Lord was not in the wind.

Then there was an earthquake.
But the  Lord was not in the earthquake.

Then there was a gentle breeze.
And the Lord was in the breeze.

Not long after this Elijah called Elisha to become his follower .

Dear Lord, please help us
be aware of your presence in our lives

My recording of this reading

Psalm 99

The Lord is king.  He is great in Sion. His power is seen throughout the world.

Among his priests were Aaron, Moses and Samuel. They prayed to the Lord and he answered their call.

Let peoples everywhere praise his name. He is holy, full of power.

Lord, may all peoples know and love you 
Recording

Luke 16.19-26 (a)

Jesus told this story to the people: There was a rich man who used to dress in expensive clothes and feast magnificently every day

At his gate there was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to eat scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even came and licked his sores

The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In his torment in Hell, the rich man looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus at his side

Recording

Luke 16.19-26 (b)

So the rich man cried out "Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames"

"My son", replied Abraham, "remember that during your life, good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted here, while you are in agony"

Jesus, please help me understand how I should do more to help poor people

Recording

Mong Kok riot - how Hong Kong’s first night in the Year of the Monkey descended into mayhem

225: This criterion also applies to evangelization, which calls for attention to the bigger picture, openness to suitable processes and concern for the long run. 

The Lord himself, during his earthly life, often warned his disciples that there were things they could not yet understand and that they would have to await the Holy Spirit. 

The parable of the weeds among the wheat graphically illustrates an important aspect of evangelization: the enemy can intrude upon the kingdom and sow harm, but ultimately he is defeated by the goodness of the wheat

10 years ago today

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 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 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)

Islam File    The New Translation

"Same-sex marriage" file

205. Yet all is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social conditioning. 

We are able to take an honest look at ourselves, to acknowledge our deep dissatisfaction, and to embark on new paths to authentic freedom. 

No system can completely suppress our openness to what is good, true and beautiful, or our God-given ability to respond to his grace at work deep in our hearts.

I appeal to everyone throughout the world not to forget this dignity which is ours. No one has the right to take it from us.

Psalm 51

Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness, and cleanse me of my sin.

My offences truly I know them.
What is evil in your sight I have done.

But in my defence please don't forget that sinfulness is part of the human condition, part of our DNA.

A pure heart create for me, O God. Put a steadfast spirit within me.

Give me again the joy of your help. With a spirit of fervor sustain me.

Lord,  you will not spurn a humbled, contrite heart

Recording  

2 Cor 5.14-19

The love of Christ is like a tsunami.
It overwhelms us and sweeps us away when we remember how Jesus died for everyone

God, through Christ, has repaired his friendship with humanity. We must spread the news of this reconciliation

"And when I think, that God his Son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in"
- from the song "How Great Thou Art"

Recording   

Matthew 6.1-15

Jesus said to the crowds:

When you do a good deed, do it for its own sake, not just to get people to praise you.

When you pray, love to pray in private in your heart. Don't be looking for people to notice and praise you.

When you pray, there's no need to rave on and on. God is not deaf. Prayer is not a lawyer arguing a case. Prayer is a child speaking with simple trust like this:

Our Father in heaven, may everyone love and honor you. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as in heaven. Thank you for enough food for today. Forgive us as we forgive others. Save us in time of trial. Protect us from evil

Jesus, help me remember that each time I pray "The Our Father", you are praying with me. "Your Father = my Father = our Father"

Recording    

Chris McDonnell (Wed UK blogger) 

What kind of place it is

Let me declare an interest. I have been involved with education since 1964, the last 24 years before retirement as the head of three different schools, two of them local authority state schools

224: Sometimes I wonder if there are people in today’s world who are really concerned about generating processes of people-building, as opposed to obtaining immediate results which yield easy, quick short-term political gains, but do not enhance human fullness.

History will perhaps judge the latter with the criterion set forth by Romano Guardini: “The only measure for properly evaluating an age is to ask to what extent it fosters the development and attainment of a full and authentically meaningful human existence, in accordance with the peculiar character and the capacities of that age”.

As I set out for Stanley Prison yesterday morning, I made a note on my daily reminder piece of scrap paper: "Oranges", since I would use my last orange last night ....none left for breakfast this morning. But then at Stanley, when I visited one room where kitchen staff were working, a kind local Chinese inmate spontaneously insisted I should accept an orange from him. Who was I to argue? Orange buying can now wait till later today. This message is brought to you by P. R. Ovidence Co.

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 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 Burundi

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)