Islam File    The New Translation

"Same-sex marriage" file

Philippine Church alarmed by police killings under Duterte
   

HATE SPEECH FROM BILL SHORTEN - OUT OF LINE AND OUT OF TOUCH

This is good! - Pope's tells story of the Good Samaritan:

Pope at Villa Nazareth

Song of Songs 1-2

The bride says:
Kiss me. Your love is better than wine. How right it is to love you, you whom my heart loves.

The bridegroom says:
How beautiful you are, my love, how beautiful you are.

The bride:
He has taken me to his banquet hall and his banner over me is love.

The groom:
Come then, my love, my lovely one, come. Show me your face and let me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet and your face is beautiful.

The bride:
My beloved is mine and I am his.

Dear God, please give me a lover's love for you

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 

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

1 Timothy 5.1-14

Do not speak harshly to a man older than yourself, but advise him as you would your own father. Treat younger men as brothers.

Treat older women as you would your mother. Treat younger women with propriety, as if they were your sisters

Be considerate to widows. If a widow wishes to be enrolled as a church worker, she must be at least 60 years old, the wife of one husband

As regards young widows, it's best if they re-marry

Jesus, help church workers to be kind and caring

Recording 

 John 20.1-10

Before dawn the next morning, Sunday, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb.  She saw the stone had been moved from the tomb's entrance

She ran to Peter and John and said "Someone has taken the Lord out of the tomb"

They ran back to the tomb. Peter went in first. He saw that the linen cloths were on the ground. But the cloth that had been around Jesus' head was not on the ground. It was neatly folded and in a place by itself

Then John went into the tomb. He saw, and he believed

Jesus, I believe you rose from the dead. Please increase my faith

Recording 

The Joy of Love - Pope Francis' letter - on love in the family      Full English text

72: Recording

The sacrament of marriage is not a social convention, an empty ritual or merely the outward sign of a commitment. 

The sacrament is a gift given for the sanctification and salvation of the spouses, since “their mutual belonging is a real representation, through the sacramental sign, of the same relationship between Christ and the Church. 

The married couple are therefore a permanent reminder for the Church of what took place on the cross; they are for one another and for their children witnesses of the salvation in which they share through the sacrament”.⁶⁴

Marriage is a vocation, inasmuch as it is a response to a specific call to experience conjugal love as a sign of the love between Christ and the Church. Consequently, the decision to marry and to have a family ought to be the fruit of a process of vocational discernment. (text has "imperfect sign of the love", but this is not a very nice way to put things?)

14: Recording

In the Judaeo-Christian tradition, the word “creation” has a broader meaning than “nature”, for it has to do with God’s loving plan in which every creature has its own value and significance.

Nature is usually seen as a system which can be studied, understood and controlled, whereas creation can only be understood as a gift from the outstretched hand of the Father of all, and as a reality illuminated by the love which calls us together into universal communion.

The worst I've seen – trauma expert lifts lid on 'atrocity' of Australia's detention regime

48: Recording 

If the whole Church takes up this missionary impulse, she has to go forth to everyone without exception.

 But to whom should she go first? When we read the Gospel we find a clear indication: not so much our friends and wealthy neighbours, but above all the poor and the sick, those who are usually despised and overlooked, “those who cannot repay you”.

 There can be no room for doubt or for explanations which weaken so clear a message.

 Today and always, “the poor are the privileged recipients of the Gospel”,  and the fact that it is freely preached to them is a sign of the kingdom that Jesus came to establish.

 We have to state, without mincing words, that there is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor. May we never abandon them.

For the past week or so at breakfast I've been watching a most interesting YouTube program on the way Bible manuscripts are studied to produce the Bible as we know it. Program explains how and why ancient copiers changed a word, added a phrase etc here and there. 

Last night as I did the recording of The Joy of Love no. 72, above, I did the same thing ...I left out the word "imperfect" (see above) because I feel it's an insulting phrase ...probably not intended...probably just poor English. 

Now I can better understand the mindset of the ancient scribes!

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 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, 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)

Ecclesiastes 10-11

Foolish people are lazy,  and careless in speech. Wise people are diligent, and careful in speech.

Young people, rejoice in your youth. Young people, remember your Creator in the days of your youth.

Let everyone remember: our life is short. Don't waste your life. Live life well.

Our days pass quickly and old age is soon at the doorstep.

Old age: when to go uphill is difficult and even walking is not easy.

In all we do, let us love and honor the Lord our God. At the end of our lives on earth, it is to God we will have to give an account of the way we have lived.

Lord, make us know the shortness of our life so that we may have more wisdom in living our lives

My recording of this reading

Psalm 98

Sing a new song to the Lord for he has worked wonders. His right hand has brought salvation.

The Lord has made known his salvation. He has shown his justice to the nations.

He has remembered his truth and love for the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout to the Lord all the earth, ring out your joy.

Sing psalms to the Lord with the harp, with the sound of music.

Let the sea, the world and all peoples acclaim the King, the Lord.

Let the rivers clap their hands
and the hills ring out their joy at the presence of the Lord, for he comes to rule the earth.

He will rule the world with justice
and the peoples with fairness.

Lord, may all peoples in all countries know your love and goodness

Recording 

1 Timothy 4.12-16

Do not let people disregard you because you are young. Be an example to all the believers in the way you speak and act

You have in you a spiritual gift which was given you when the church elders prayed over you with the laying on of hands. Do not let this gift go unused

Take great care about what you do and what you teach. In this way you will save both yourself and those who listen to you

Jesus, help me be a good example to other people

Recording 

John 19.38-42

Joseph of Arimathaea,  a disciple of Jesus, asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Pilate agreed and Jesus' body was taken down from the cross

Another man, Nicodemus, brought burial spices. He and Joseph wrapped Jesus' body in  linen cloths with the spices

Since the Passover was due to begin at sunset, they put the body in an  unused tomb close to  the place of Crucifixion

Jesus, dead in the tomb, please give eternal life to everyone who dies today

Recording 

   
Message from Fr Harry Winter O.M.I. in USA: Please keep in your prayers the Great and Holy Council of Eastern Orthodoxy, Crete, June 19-27.  I've placed an item about this on the Mission-Unity-Dialogue website (www.harrywinter.org) including the basic document

The Joy of Love - Pope Francis' letter - on love in the family     Full English text

71: Recording

“Scripture and Tradition give us access to a knowledge of the Trinity, which is revealed with the features of a family. 

The family is the image of God, who is a communion of persons.

At Christ’s baptism, the Father’s voice was heard, calling Jesus his beloved Son, and in this love we can recognize the Holy Spirit (cf. Mk 1:10-11).

Jesus, who reconciled all things in himself and redeemed us from sin, not only returned marriage and the family to their original form, but also raised marriage to the sacramental sign of his love for the Church (cf. Mt 19:1-12; Mk 10:1-12; Eph 5:21-32). 

In the human family, gathered by Christ, ‘the image and likeness’ of the Most Holy Trinity (cf. Gen 1:26) has been restored, the mystery from which all true love flows.

Through the Church, marriage and the family receive the grace of the Holy Spirit from Christ, in order to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s love”.⁶³

Shame, Qld, shame, shame, shame!

75: Recording

A spirituality which forgets God as all-powerful and Creator is not acceptable. That is how we end up worshipping earthly powers, or ourselves usurping the place of God, even to the point of claiming an unlimited right to trample his creation underfoot.

 The best way to restore men and women to their rightful place, putting an end to their claim to absolute dominion over the earth, is to speak once more of the figure of a Father who creates and who alone owns the world. Otherwise, human beings will always try to impose their own laws and interests on reality.

47: Recording

The Church is called to be the house of the Father, with doors always wide open.

One concrete sign of such openness is that our church doors should always be open, so that if someone, moved by the Spirit, comes there looking for God, he or she will not find a closed door.

There are other doors that should not be closed either. Everyone can share in some way in the life of the Church; everyone can be part of the community, nor should the doors of the sacraments be closed for simply any reason.

This is especially true of the sacrament which is itself “the door”: baptism. And the Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.

These convictions have pastoral consequences that we are called to consider with prudence and boldness. Frequently, we act as arbiters of grace rather than its facilitators. But the Church is not a tollhouse; it is the house of the Father, where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems.

This website's statistics for May 2016 - God bless kind readers and bloggers.
May this little website encourage us to follow Pope Francis in concern for the world and the Church

For yesterday's sermon about "carrying your cross" I used a smile from Pope Francis (in The Joy of the Gospel):
For priests - their cross is having to prepare a sermon.
For people in church - their cross is having to listen to that sermon

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 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 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)

 Jesus' promises in 1675 

My family and 
the Sacred Heart

As Pope Francis has said, such slaughter should be totally condemned and the greatest sympathy offered to victims' families

But I can't help noticing in the past week's media reports how one sad fact has been sidelined, minimised, even omitted: the killer was a patron of the club

e.g. only a tiny passing reference in this ABC article; nothing in this one

Reason? Easier to get sympathy for gay agenda if killer not identified as gay?

Letter from a Kenyan woman in prison in HK for drug trafficking:

Ecclesiastes 6-7

Even if a person studies wisdom, what use is it? Wise person and fool both must die.

Yet wisdom gives protection and strength. And wisdom reminds us that all of us make mistakes.
Therefore we should be slow to condemn others.

Lord, may the memory of my own mistakes make me slow to judge other people

My recording of this reading

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  

1 Timothy 4.1-7

Don't be surprised if some people come up with strange ideas about how to live life. Satan and his friends are always trying to sow lies and deception in the Lord's field of truth

Have nothing to do with strange ideas like "marriage is forbidden" or "you are not allowed to eat certain foods"

Everything God made is good, and no food is to be rejected, provided grace is said for it. The word of God and prayer make food holy

Jesus, please help me remember to say a little prayer before I eat

Recording    

John 19.25-30

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene

Seeing his mother and John the apostle standing near her, Jesus said to his mother "He is your son". Then to John he said "She is your mother".  From that moment, John regarded Mary as his own mother

Jesus said "My work is finished".
Then he bowed his head and died

We adore you  Lord Jesus  and we praise you, because you have redeemed the world

Recording  

Hillary Clinton is embedded in corporate power and corporate dollars, strategically unable to connect.

The Joy of Love - Pope Francis' letter - on love in the family      Full English text

68: Recording

“Blessed Paul VI, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, further developed the Church’s teaching on marriage and the family. 

In a particular way, with the Encyclical Humanae Vitae he brought out the intrinsic bond between conjugal love and the generation of life: ‘Married love requires of husband and wife the full awareness of their obligations in the matter of responsible parenthood, which today, rightly enough, is much insisted upon, but which at the same time must be rightly understood… The exercise of responsible parenthood requires that husband and wife, keeping a right order of priorities, recognize their own duties towards God, themselves, their families and human society’ (No. 10).

In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, Paul VI highlighted the relationship between the family and the Church”.⁶⁰

George Monbiot

Money’s Reach
The European Union looks thoroughly rotten – until you compare it with the UK alternatives

I was kidnapped by 'special forces' - Lam Wing-kee

72: Recording

The Psalms frequently exhort us to praise God the Creator, “who spread out the earth on the waters, for his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 136:6). 

They also invite other creatures to join us in this praise: “Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created” (Ps 148:3-5).

We do not only exist by God’s mighty power; we also live with him and beside him. This is why we adore him.

Mainland expert sounds warning on 'fatal' debt

44: Recording

  Pastors and the lay faithful who accompany their brothers and sisters in faith or on a journey of openness to God must always remember what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches quite clearly: “Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors”.

 Consequently, without detracting from the evangelical ideal, they need to accompany with mercy and patience the eventual stages of personal growth as these progressively occur.

 I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy which spurs us on to do our best.

 A small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be more pleasing to God than a life which appears outwardly in order but moves through the day without confronting great difficulties. Everyone needs to be touched by the comfort and attraction of God’s saving love, which is mysteriously at work in each person, above and beyond their faults and failings.

Funny if not so sad: I recently met an inmate in a HK prison - charged with drug trafficking - who, while waiting for a flight from Dubai to HK, saw a man "who had too much to carry" so ...in her excessive kindness...she asked him could she help him carry something ....which she did ....and was then arrested at HK airport for trafficking in cocaine. A fish jumping onto a hook!

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 17th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Shaanxi

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 17th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Malawi

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

With each passing day of prison visits, I'm learning more about the operations of a ruthless Nigerian Drug Gang based in Dubai. This Gang is responsible for more than a dozen drug mules imprisoned in HK. So I'm not surprised by this:

Nigeria: Lagos-Dubai Passengers Face Strict Screening Over Drug Trafficking

This sends a powerful message:
Francis meets mother of only Argentine on US death row

Letter from another South African woman in prison in HK for drug trafficking:

Ecclesiastes 4-5

So many things we do are motivated by jealousy.

Two people working together can succeed. One person alone is easily defeated.

It is better to be content with what you have, than to be greedy for wealth.

Lord, please help me not to be greedy

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

1 Timothy 3.1-15

To want to be a presiding elder is to want to do a noble work. That is why the president must be above reproach:

He must not have been married more than once. He must be temperate, discreet, courteous, hospitable, a good teacher, not a heavy drinker, not hot-tempered, but kind and peaceable

He must not be a lover of money. He must be a man who manages his family well and brings up his children well.

How could anyone who can't manage his own  family be given responsibility to manage God's family?

He should not be a new convert in case he becomes full of pride

The Church of the living God is God's family. The Church is the guardian of the truth

Jesus, please give the Church good leaders

Recording

John 19.17-24

Carrying his own crossbeam, Jesus went out of the city to the place called Golgotha, where they crucified him with two other men, one on each side of him

Pilate had the charge against Jesus written out and attached to the top of the cross. It read "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews"

When the soldiers had finished crucifying Jesus, they divided his clothes among them

Jesus nailed to the Cross, thank you for suffering for the salvation of the world

Recording

The Joy of Love - Pope Francis' letter - on love in the family      Full English text

67: Recording

The Second Vatican Council, in its Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, was concerned “to promote the dignity of marriage and the family (cf. Nos. 47-52)”.

The Constitution “defined marriage as a community of life and love (cf. 48), placing love at the centre of the family… ‘True love between husband and wife’ (49) involves mutual self-giving, includes and integrates the sexual and affective dimensions, in accordance with God’s plan (cf. 48-49)”.

The conciliar document also emphasizes “the grounding of the spouses in Christ. Christ the Lord ‘makes himself present to the Christian spouses in the sacrament of marriage’ (48) and remains with them. In the incarnation, he assumes human love, purifies it and brings it to fulfilment. By his Spirit, he gives spouses the capacity to live that love, permeating every part of their lives of faith, hope and charity. 

In this way, the spouses are consecrated and by means of a special grace build up the Body of Christ and form a domestic church (cf. Lumen Gentium, 11), so that the Church, in order fully to understand her mystery, looks to the Christian family, which manifests her in a real way”.⁵⁹

71b: Recording 

After seven weeks of years, which is to say forty-nine years, the Jubilee was celebrated as a year of general forgiveness and “liberty throughout the land for all its inhabitants” (cf. Lev 25:10). 

This law came about as an attempt to ensure balance and fairness in their relationships with others and with the land on which they lived and worked.

 At the same time, it was an acknowledgment that the gift of the earth with its fruits belongs to everyone. Those who tilled and kept the land were obliged to share its fruits, especially with the poor, with widows, orphans and foreigners in their midst: 

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field to its very border, neither shall you gather the gleanings after the harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner” (Lev 19:9-10).

43: Recording

In her ongoing discernment, the Church can also come to see that certain customs not directly connected to the heart of the Gospel, even some which have deep historical roots, are no longer properly understood and appreciated. 

Some of these customs may be beautiful, but they no longer serve as means of communicating the Gospel. We should not be afraid to re-examine them.

Also, the Church has some rules or precepts which may have been quite effective in their time, but no longer have the same usefulness for directing and shaping people’s lives.

Saint Thomas Aquinas pointed out that the precepts which Christ and the apostles gave to the people of God “are very few”. Citing Saint Augustine, he noted that the precepts subsequently enjoined by the Church should be insisted upon with moderation “so as not to burden the lives of the faithful” and make our religion a form of servitude, whereas “God’s mercy has willed that we should be free”.

This warning, issued many centuries ago, is most timely today. It ought to be one of the criteria to be taken into account in considering a reform of the Church and her preaching which would enable it to reach everyone.

After almost 9 hours at Tai Lam Women's prison on Tuesday, I dozed a little on the train going home from Tuen Mun. More than a little. I missed my station - Austin - and had to travel back to it from Tsim Sha Tsui!

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 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 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

Pope Francis needs to do more than kiss the disabled

Pope Francis' homily for Jubilee of the Sick and Disabled

Letter from a South African woman in prison in HK for drug trafficking:

Chris McDonnell   (Wed UK blogger)

Changing the Rules, disturbing the peace
We should come together respecting differences of opinion, seeking the flexibility of love 

Ecclesiastes 3

There's a time and a season for everything:

A time for giving birth, a time for dying.

A time for tears and mourning, a time for laughter and dancing.

A time for embracing, a time to refrain from embracing.

A time for keeping silent, a time for speaking.

Dear Lord, please help me to do the right thing at the right time

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 

1 Timothy 1.18 - 2.8

Timothy, my son, as I give you advice for practical issues, remember how the church elders prayed over you that you would be a good leader

My first bit of advice is that there should be prayers offered for everyone, especially for kings and others in authority, so that we can live our life of faith in peace and quiet

God wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth

There is only one God, and there is only one mediator between God and humanity, himself a man, Christ Jesus, who sacrificed himself as a ransom for everyone

In every place, I want believers to lift up their hands in reverent prayer

God our Father, through Jesus your Son, I ask a blessing on the leaders of our world, especially the leaders of my own country

Recording 

John 19.4-16

Pilate now put Jesus on display and again told the leaders "I find no case against him"

The leaders replied "According to our Law he must die, since he claims to be the Son of God. If you free him, you are no friend of the Roman Emperor"

Eventually Pilate gave in to them and handed Jesus over to be crucified

Jesus, please help all judges to stand up for the truth and not make false judgments

Recording 

The Joy of Love - Pope Francis' letter - on love in the family     Full English text

66: Recording

“The covenant of love and fidelity lived by the Holy Family of Nazareth illuminates the principle which gives shape to every family, and enables it better to face the vicissitudes of life and history.

On this basis, every family, despite its weaknesses, can become a light in the darkness of the world.

Nazareth teaches us the meaning of family life, its loving communion, its simple and austere beauty, its sacred and inviolable character. May it teach how sweet and irreplaceable is its training, how fundamental and incomparable its role in the social order’ (Paul VI, Address in Nazareth, 5 January 1964)”.⁵⁸

Hero's funeral for China peacekeeper killed in Mali

71a: Recording 

Although “the wickedness of people was great in the earth” (Gen 6:5) and the Lord “was sorry that he had made people on the earth” (Gen 6:6), nonetheless, through Noah, who remained innocent and just, God decided to open a path of salvation. In this way he gave humanity the chance of a new beginning. All it takes is one good person to restore hope! (((a good description of Pope Francis himself!)))

The biblical tradition clearly shows that this renewal entails recovering and respecting the rhythms inscribed in nature by the hand of the Creator. We see this, for example, in the law of the Sabbath. On the seventh day, God rested from all his work. He commanded Israel to set aside each seventh day as a day of rest, a Sabbath, (cf. Gen 2:2-3; Ex 16:23; 20:10).

Similarly, every seven years, a sabbatical year was set aside for Israel, a complete rest for the land (cf. Lev 25:1-4), when sowing was forbidden and one reaped only what was necessary to live on and to feed one’s household (cf. Lev 25:4-6).

42: Recording

We need to remember that all religious teaching ultimately has to be reflected in the teacher’s way of life, which awakens the assent of the heart by its nearness, love and witness.

10 years ago today

Yesterday I spent nearly 9 hours at Tai Lam Women's Correctional Institution for my monthly visit ....during which I handed in three lots of HK$162 for three inmates to buy radios ...that's three separate lots of 162....made up of a 100, a 50, a 10 and a 2. But but only last night when I read this report did I understand why the Tai Lam staff showed special interest in my 50's:
Counterfeit HK$50 banknotes circulating, Bank of China confirms

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 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 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)