Yesterday afternoon I needed to take Christine (former inmate, suffering from Stage 4 cancer) to a local hospital because of complications in her drainage system ( ..bag..).  I had to admire the hospital staff as they worked with so much dedication and patience to serve a huge number of patients. Many articles about this lately in HK press. I was at hospital from 4pm to nearly 10pm .... Christine admitted for at least a day or two of special treatment. 
So ...please excuse today's mini-menu. Too late to do much more by the time I got home and had a bite to eat.
And ...thank you for continued prayers for Christine (and another inmate also in hospital): 
Jesus, please tsunami them with your healing love!

Tobit 8

Before Tobias went to bed with Sarah, he remembered what Raphael had said. Tobias put some of the fish's heart and liver
on burning incense. The smell of the fish made Asmodeus flee.

Tobias with Sarah then prayed to the Lord: "You are blessed O God of our fathers. Let the heavens and all creatures bless you, you who created Adam and Eve.

I now take Sarah as my wife not for any lustful reason, but out of true love.

Please have pity on us and bring us to old age together."

Then they went to bed.

Meanwhile Raguel, who feared Tobias would die, prepared a secret grave. But when Raguel sent a maid to the room of Tobias and Sarah the maid found they were alive and sleeping peacefully.

Then Raguel too praised God: 
"Thank you, my God, for making me happy. What I feared has not happened."

The next day Raguel prepared the customary 14 day wedding feast.

Dear God, thank you for the many times when we could say
"What I feared has not happened"

Psalm 133

How good and how pleasant it is
when people live in unity.

It is like precious oil upon the head, running down upon the beard.

It is like the dew of Hermon
which falls on the heights of Zion.

For there the Lord gives his blessing, life for ever.

Dear Lord, please help all the peoples of the world to live as one family, in unity.

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

Galatians 2.16-20

What makes us God's friends is not obedience to the Law, but faith in Jesus Christ

I have been crucified with Christ, and I live now, not with my own life, but with the life of Christ who lives in me

The life I now live in this body, I live in faith: faith in the Son of God who loved me and who sacrificed himself for my sake

Jesus, help me understand how you live in me, and I live in you

Recording 

John 8.12, 31,32

Jesus said to the people "I am the light of the world. Those who follow me will not walk in the dark. They will have the light of life

If you take my words to heart, you will be my disciples. You will learn the truth, and the truth will set you free"

Jesus, give light to my life. Increase my love for your teaching. Help me learn more about truth

Recording 

The macabre truth of gun control in the US is that toddlers kill more people than terrorists do 
Last week, a Florida gun rights activist was shot in the back by her four-year-old son. How much longer will we keep participating in the collective lie that deadly weapons keep us safe?

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 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 Boko Haram 

Letters from (mainly African) inmates in Hong Kong prisons - and other drug trafficking items:   2016

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

Islam File    The New Translation

"Same-sex marriage" file

237. On Sunday, our participation in the Eucharist has special importance. Sunday, like the Jewish Sabbath, is meant to be a day which heals our relationships with God, with ourselves, with others and with the world.

 Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, the “first day” of the new creation, whose first fruits are the Lord’s risen humanity, the pledge of the final transfiguration of all created reality. It also proclaims “man’s eternal rest in God”.[168] In this way, Christian spirituality incorporates the value of relaxation and festivity. 

We tend to demean contemplative rest as something unproductive and unnecessary, but this is to do away with the very thing which is most important about work: its meaning. We are called to include in our work a dimension of receptivity and gratuity, which is quite different from mere inactivity.

 Rather, it is another way of working, which forms part of our very essence. It protects human action from becoming empty activism; it also prevents that unfettered greed and sense of isolation which make us seek personal gain to the detriment of all else. The law of weekly rest forbade work on the seventh day, “so that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your maidservant, and the stranger, may be refreshed” (Ex 23:12).

 Rest opens our eyes to the larger picture and gives us renewed sensitivity to the rights of others. And so the day of rest, centred on the Eucharist, sheds it light on the whole week, and motivates us to greater concern for nature and the poor.

Tobias 7

When Tobias and Raphael reached Media, they went to the home of their relative Raguel, father of Sarah.

Tobias asked Raguel for Sarah to be his wife. Raguel told Tobias that 7 previous bridegrooms had died.

Tobias repeated his request, and Sarah became his wife. That night everyone prayed for the safety of the couple.

Dear God, please bless everyone being married this month

My recording of this reading

Psalm 130

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.  Lord, hear my voice.

If you, O Lord, should  record our guilt, Lord, who would survive?

But with you is found forgiveness. For this we revere you.

My soul is waiting for the Lord.
I count on his word.

My soul is longing for the Lord
more than watchman for the daybreak.

With the Lord there is mercy
and fullness of redemption.

Israel indeed he will redeem
from all its  iniquity.

Lord, please forgive me for all the bad things I have done

Recording 

Galatians 2.11-14

Not long after this, when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him
to his face, since he was in the wrong

He had been accustomed to eating with non-Jews, but when some friends of James arrived - people who insisted that all believers should be circumcised - he kept away from the non-Jews

When I saw that Peter was not respecting the true meaning of the Good News, I said to him in front of everyone "You have no right to make non-Jews adopt Jewish customs"

Jesus, help me understand that it's sometimes ok to criticize top Christian leaders

Recording 

   Luke 23.50-56

Joseph from the town of Arimathaea was a member of the religious leaders' council. He was a good and just man, and had not agreed to the killing of Jesus

Late Friday afternoon, he went to Governor Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. He took it down from the cross, wrapped it in a burial cloth, and put it in a rock tomb that had not yet been used

The women from Galilee who had come to Jerusalem with Jesus went with Joseph to the tomb. Then they left to prepare burial spices and ointments. They planned to put these on Jesus' body after the Saturday Sabbath day of rest

Jesus in the tomb, please give eternal life to all the dead

Recording 

The Wisdom of God Triumphs Again!
Todays Gospel Reading is about the woman caught in adultery. Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives and the people assemble before him to be taught. While Jesus is there,  the Jewish elders come along and present the woman in question to Jesus. The elder's intention is to entrap Jesus so that they can bring a charge against him. They ask Jesus if the woman should be stoned as according to the law of Moses for her adultery. After some time passes, Jesus says to the elders, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." The woman is not condemned by them or Jesus.  I just love when the Wisdom of God Triumphs!

255.  The Synod Fathers spoke of the importance of respect for religious freedom, viewed as a fundamental human right.

 This includes “the freedom to choose the religion which one judges to be true and to manifest one’s beliefs in public”.

 A healthy pluralism, one which genuinely respects differences and values them as such, does not entail privatizing religions in an attempt to reduce them to the quiet obscurity of the individual’s conscience or to relegate them to the enclosed precincts of churches, synagogues or mosques.

 This would represent, in effect, a new form of discrimination and authoritarianism. The respect due to the agnostic or non-believing minority should not be arbitrarily imposed in a way that silences the convictions of the believing majority or ignores the wealth of religious traditions. In the long run, this would feed resentment rather than tolerance and peace.

10 years ago today

A Jesuit, a Dominican, and a Trappist were marooned on a desert island.  They found a magic lamp, and after some discussion decided to rub it.  Lo and behold, a genie appeared and offered them three wishes.  They decided it was only fair that they could each have one wish. The Jesuit said he wanted to teach at the world's most famous university, and presto, he was gone! The Dominican wished to preach in the world's largest church, and presto, he was gone!  Then the Trappist said, "Wow, I already have my wish!"

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 14th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Jilin

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 14th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Ethiopia

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

Letters from (mainly African) inmates in Hong Kong prisons - and other drug trafficking items:   2016

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

Islam File    The New Translation

"Same-sex marriage" file   

234. Saint John of the Cross taught that all the goodness present in the realities and experiences of this world “is present in God eminently and infinitely, or more properly, God is in each of these sublime realities”.[161] 

This is not because the finite things of this world are really divine, but because the mystic experiences the intimate connection between God and all beings, and thus feels that “all things are God”.[162]

 Standing awestruck before a mountain, he or she cannot separate this experience from God, and perceives that the interior awe being lived has to be entrusted to the Lord:

 “Mountains have heights and they are plentiful, vast, beautiful, graceful, bright and fragrant. These mountains are what my Beloved is to me. Lonely valleys are quiet, pleasant, cool, shady and flowing with fresh water; in the variety of their groves and in the sweet song of the birds, they afford abundant recreation and delight to the senses, and in their solitude and silence, they refresh us and give rest. These valleys are what my Beloved is to me”.[163]

Letter in Thai by a Thai inmate in a HK prison on a drug trafficking charge. 

I'd be grateful if someone would please send this message to media/blog in Thailand ...and ask them to contact me for more letters ...with the aim that such letters will warn people in Thailand about the danger of drug trafficking to HK:

    

Tobit 4

Tobit said to his son Tobias: "When I die give me an honorable burial. Always honor your mother. When she dies, bury her at my side.

Be faithful to the Lord all your days. Always be willing to help poor people.

Give your bread to those who are hungry and your clothes to those who are naked.

Ask advice of every wise person.
Bless the Lord God in everything.  Beg him to guide your ways and bring your paths and purposes to a successful conclusion.

Avoid all loose conduct. Do to no one what you would not want done to you.

Choose a wife from our tribe, from our kin in Media. Go to Media, to my friend Gabael. Many years ago I left 10 talents of silver with him. This money is yours."

Dear God,  please guide me and help me to do what is right

My recording of this reading 

Psalm 127

If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor.

If the Lord does not watch over the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil.

Success comes not from earlier rising or from going later to rest,
but from the Lord's blessing.

Success is from the Lord who blesses the womb of  his beloved while she sleeps.

Truly, children are a gift from the Lord, a blessing, the fruit of the womb.

Lord, many people these days don't want children. Please help such people understand that children are a blessing

Recording  

Galatians 1.11-24

The Good News I preach is not a human message. It is something I received from Jesus Christ

I used to persecute the church, but then God called me to follow Jesus

I am  a one-time persecutor who is now preaching the faith I had previously tried to destroy

When I visited Jerusalem three years after my conversion, the believers gave glory to God for what he had done for me

Jesus, please turn more persecutors into preachers!

Recording   

Luke 23.39-43

One of the criminals hanging on a cross mockingly said to Jesus "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us as well"

But the other criminal rebuked the first one and said "We are paying the penalty for our crimes. But this man has done nothing wrong"

"Jesus", he said, "remember me when you come into your kingdom"

Jesus replied "I promise you, this day you will be with me in Paradise"

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom

Recording  

YouTube: Jesus, remember me

Gay ‘Marriage’ Guarantees Gay Sex Education
In some countries the words "father" and "mother" are being replaced by "parent one" and "parent two". Now, according to this article, the words "boys" and "girls" are also being deleted. How did we ever get to this crazy stage? Lord, have mercy! And may I repeat what I've said before: the above radical agenda is exactly that ...the radical agenda of radical homosexuals. It's not the agenda of the vast majority of "gay" people.

South African gay singer dies of anal cancer c.f. my "Same-sex marriage" file

252. Our relationship with the followers of Islam has taken on great importance, since they are now significantly present in many traditionally Christian countries, where they can freely worship and become fully a part of society. 

We must never forget that they “profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, who will judge humanity on the last day”. 

The sacred writings of Islam have retained some Christian teachings; Jesus and Mary receive profound veneration and it is admirable to see how Muslims both young and old, men and women, make time for daily prayer and faithfully take part in religious services. 

Many of them also have a deep conviction that their life, in its entirety, is from God and for God. They also acknowledge the need to respond to God with an ethical commitment and with mercy towards those most in need.

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 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, on this Muslim day of prayer, please bless all Muslims!

Letters from (mainly African) inmates in Hong Kong prisons - and other drug trafficking items:   2016

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

Islam File    The New Translation

"Same-sex marriage" file

233. The universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely. Hence, there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face.[159] 

The ideal is not only to pass from the exterior to the interior to discover the action of God in the soul, but also to discover God in all things. 

Saint Bonaventure teaches us that “contemplation deepens the more we feel the working of God’s grace within our hearts, and the better we learn to encounter God in creatures outside ourselves”.[160]

Two days ago at a detention centre I met about a dozen recently arrested drug mules facing long sentences in Hong Kong. They came from different countries in South America, Asia and Africa (not East Africa!)

All but one were persuaded or tricked or forced to bring drugs to HK by Nigerian Drug Lords based in South America, Asia and Africa. Shame, Nigeria, shame, shame, shame.

I hope the new Nigerian government will assign special police officers to track down (not difficult) and arrest (not easy) these Nigerian Drug Lords who are destroying lives and families in many parts of the world.

Tobit 2-3

One night when Tobit was resting, sparrow droppings fell into his eyes and he became blind.

Some people made fun of Tobit for his misfortune. Tobit humbly entrusted his life to the Lord.

At the same time as Tobit was praying, Sarah was praying in the town of Media.

Sarah had been given in marriage 7 times but  all of her bridegrooms had been killed by the demon Asmodeus before the couple could make love.

The Lord heard the prayers of Tobit and Sarah and sent the angel Raphael to help them.

Dear God, please help people who are in difficult situations

My recording of this reading

Psalm 126

When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage, it seemed like a dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter, on our lips there were songs.

What marvels the Lord worked for us. Indeed we were glad.

Those who are sowing in tears
will sing when they reap.

They go out, full of tears, carrying seed for the sowing. They come back, full of song, carrying their sheaves.

Dear God, please bless all people who are sorrowful as they work

Recording

Galatians 1.1-7

To the church of Galatia, from Paul, an apostle appointed not by man  but by Jesus Christ

Trouble makers among you have changed the Good News

I am astonished that you have begun following their false version of the Good News

Jesus, don't let people be deceived by anyone who waters down or changes your Good News

Recording

Luke 23.33-38

When they reached the place called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there, and the two criminals also, one on his right, the other on his left

Above his head was placed a sign  "This is the King of the Jews"

Jesus prayed "Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing"

The leaders made fun of him "He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God"

The soldiers mocked him too "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself"

Jesus, you forgave those who mocked you and crucified you. I forgive anyone who has been unkind to me

Recording

‘Ridiculous’ waiting times as wards at every public hospital exceed capacity
Yesterday at the Catholic Centre in Central, I bumped into old friend Leo Goodstadt whose powerful book Poverty in the Midst of Affluence has these words: "... it will take till 2021 to restore the number of hospital beds to what they were at beginning of the century" (because of poor government policy)

Three-year-old girl among 21 South Asians intercepted on smuggling boat off Hong Kong airport

251. In this dialogue, ever friendly and sincere, attention must always be paid to the essential bond between dialogue and proclamation, which leads the Church to maintain and intensify her relationship with non-Christians.

 A facile syncretism would ultimately be a totalitarian gesture on the part of those who would ignore greater values of which they are not the masters.

 True openness involves remaining steadfast in one’s deepest convictions, clear and joyful in one’s own identity, while at the same time being “open to understanding those of the other party” and “knowing that dialogue can enrich each side”. 

What is not helpful is a diplomatic openness which says “yes” to everything in order to avoid problems, for this would be a way of deceiving others and denying them the good which we have been given to share generously with others. 

Evangelization and interreligious dialogue, far from being opposed, mutually support and nourish one another.

10 years ago today

Horses make the best neighbours, except when they nag you or try to take you for a ride or become unstable or hack your email

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 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 Al-Qaeda

Letters from (mainly African) inmates in Hong Kong prisons - and other drug trafficking items:   2016

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

Islam File    The New Translation

"Same-sex marriage" file

232. Not everyone is called to engage directly in political life. Society is also enriched by a countless array of organizations which work to promote the common good and to defend the environment, whether natural or urban. 

Some, for example, show concern for a public place (a building, a fountain, an abandoned monument, a landscape, a square), and strive to protect, restore, improve or beautify it as something belonging to everyone. Around these community actions, relationships develop or are recovered and a new social fabric emerges. Thus, a community can break out of the indifference induced by consumerism.

 These actions cultivate a shared identity, with a story which can be remembered and handed on. In this way, the world, and the quality of life of the poorest, are cared for, with a sense of solidarity which is at the same time aware that we live in a common home which God has entrusted to us. These community actions, when they express self-giving love, can also become intense spiritual experiences.

Chris McDonnell   (Wed UK blogger)

This Lenten Island

We have all met the occasional person who manages to live their life at a gentler pace, those who have slowed down and show a greater consideration for others, those whose response to a question or comment is not rushed and ill-thought through but values the quality of the exchange. In one of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Watson is told by his friend that “this is a two-pipe problem”. In other words, let me think about that a bit.

Tobit 1

Tobit was a Jewish exile living in the city of Nineveh in Assyria.
Even though other Jewish exiles, even his own relatives,
neglected their religion, Tobit stayed loyal to God.

Tobit also cared for the poor and hungry. And he made a special practice of burying the  dead.

Dear God, please help me to be like Tobit: loyal to you and caring for the poor

Psalm 125

Those who put their trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, that cannot be shaken.

Jerusalem, the mountains surround her, so the Lord surrounds his people, now and forever.

Lord,  please help us be more aware  of your protecting presence

Recording 

2 Corinthians 13.1-13

Soon I will be with you for a third time. What I ask is that you live the way God wants you to live

So, grow in your Christian life. Help one another. Be united. Live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father,
and the friendship of the Holy Spirit be with you all

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, help me live the way you want me to live

Recording 

Luke 23.26-34

As Jesus was being led to the place of crucifixion, a man named Simon was coming into Jerusalem from the country. He was made to carry the cross behind Jesus

Large numbers of people followed him, including women who mourned for him. Jesus said to them "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep rather for yourselves and for your children. For if this is how innocent people are treated, what will happen to people who are guilty?"

Two criminals were led out with Jesus to be crucified with him

Jesus, please help me to carry my cross each day

Recording 

250.  An attitude of openness in truth and in love must characterize dialogue with the followers of non-Christian religions, in spite of various obstacles and difficulties, especially forms of fundamentalism

 Interreligious dialogue is a necessary condition for peace in the world, and so it is a duty for Christians as well as other religious communities.

 This dialogue is in the first place a conversation about human existence or simply, as the bishops of India have put it, a matter of “being open to them, sharing their joys and sorrows”.

 In this way we learn to accept others and their different ways of living, thinking and speaking. 

We can then join one another in taking up the duty of serving justice and peace, which should become a basic principle of all our exchanges. 

A dialogue which seeks social peace and justice is in itself, beyond all merely practical considerations, an ethical commitment which brings about a new social situation.

 Efforts made in dealing with a specific theme can become a process in which, by mutual listening, both parts can be purified and enriched. These efforts, therefore, can also express love for truth. 

Recently I replied to a female inmate's letter. Her name ... really... is "Honey". So I found myself starting the letter with "Hello Honey"!

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 9th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Henan

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 9th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Central African Republic

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

Letters from (mainly African) inmates in Hong Kong prisons - and other drug trafficking items:   2016

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

Islam File    The New Translation

"Same-sex marriage" file

231. Love, overflowing with small gestures of mutual care, is also civic and political, and it makes itself felt in every action that seeks to build a better world. 

Love for society and commitment to the common good are outstanding expressions of a charity which affects not only relationships between individuals but also “macro-relationships, social, economic and political ones”.[156] That is why the Church set before the world the ideal of a “civilization of love”.[157] 

Social love is the key to authentic development: “In order to make society more human, more worthy of the human person, love in social life – political, economic and cultural – must be given renewed value, becoming the constant and highest norm for all activity”.[158]

 In this framework, along with the importance of little everyday gestures, social love moves us to devise larger strategies to halt environmental degradation and to encourage a “culture of care” which permeates all of society. When we feel that God is calling us to intervene with others in these social dynamics, we should realize that this too is part of our spirituality, which is an exercise of charity and, as such, matures and sanctifies us.   

Nehemiah 7-13

The wall of Jerusalem was finally rebuilt and doors were set in place in the wall.

In the seventh month of the lunar calendar Nehemiah assembled all the people and read to them the Book of the Law of Moses.

This was the first time that most of the people had heard the words of Moses' Book.

The people were grateful to God
and praised him with great happiness.

The people also promised God
that they would serve him more faithfully in the future.

But while Nehemiah was away on a visit  to the king the people and leaders became careless about the Law.

When  Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem he brought the people back to proper observance of the Law

Dear God, may we find joy and strength in reading the Bible, and may the world have more good leaders like Nehemiah

Psalm 124

"If the Lord had not been on our side", this is Israel's song.

If the Lord had not been on our side when people rose against us, then would they have swallowed us alive when they were angry with us.

Blessed be the Lord who did not let us become a prey for their teeth.

Our life, like a bird, has escaped
from the snare of the hunter.

Indeed the snare has been broken
and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.

Thank you, Lord, for all the times you have rescued me from trouble

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

2 Corinthians 11.24 - 12.14

Remember how much I have suffered for the sake of the Good News:

- 5 times I had the 39 lashes from the Jews
- 3 times I was beaten with sticks
- once I was stoned
- 3 times I was shipwrecked
- I have often been starving

This should prove to you that I am a genuine apostle, not after money or fame or power. It is you I want, not your possessions

Jesus, help church workers want souls, not money/fame/power

Recording 

Today's Gospel:

 Luke 23.13-25

Pilate said to the religious leaders and to the people "You brought this man before me as a political agitator. Neither Herod nor I have found a case against the man. He has done nothing deserving death. I shall have him flogged and then let him go"

But the leaders and people screamed out "Away with him. Crucify him!".

Pilate asked "Why? What harm has he done?"

They kept shouting "Crucify him! Crucify him!"

Pilate then gave in to them and handed Jesus over for crucifixion

Jesus, how great your mental suffering must have been as the crowd shouted for your death

Recording 

Thoughts from Amnesty International:
Female refugees face physical assault, exploitation and sexual harassment on their journey through Europe

'Game Changing' Snowden Resolution Protects Rights of All EU Citizens (with audio link)
Edward Snowden's legal representative in Hong Kong - Robert Tibbo - told Sputnik that last week's resolution from the European parliament to prevent Snowden's extradition is a progressive step to protect the rights of citizens in the EU. 

Who elects the president?
The puppet masters of The Philippines are the rulers of the dynastic families that form their own competing groups. The dynastic families that manipulate elections through fraud, bribery, vote buying, the use of automated voting machines and violence are indeed the greatest burden that weighs down and keeps millions of Filipinos in poverty.

Involving no more than around 140 people, the rich families infiltrate their relatives and retainers into every corner and office of the government.

249.  God continues to work among the people of the Old Covenant and to bring forth treasures of wisdom which flow from their encounter with his word.

 For this reason, the Church also is enriched when she receives the values of Judaism. 

While it is true that certain Christian beliefs are unacceptable to Judaism, and that the Church cannot refrain from proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Messiah, there exists as well a rich complementarity which allows us to read the texts of the Hebrew Scriptures together and to help one another to mine the riches of God’s word. 

We can also share many ethical convictions and a common concern for justice and the development of peoples.

This website's statistics for February 2016. May this little site be an encouragement to people trying to follow the example of Pope Francis in concern for the planet and its poor. God bless all readers and contributors!

Australian Navy seizes huge weapons cache headed for Somalia

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 8th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Heilongjiang

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 8th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Sierra Leone

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

Letters from (mainly African) inmates in Hong Kong prisons - and other drug trafficking items:   2016

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