Water crisis at Third Pole

At the top of the world, a climate disaster is unfolding that threatens the lives of more than a billion people in China, India, Vietnam ..

Two South American letters - one from a Honduran inmate in a HK prison for drug trafficking - describing how she was co-erced to take drugs to HK, and one from a Bolivian man warning people not to copy his mistake.

Both letters are Here at this new dedicated site: www.southamericablog.org 
   

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

Here at this new dedicated site: www.southafricablog.info

Today is the Feast of Saint Anne, the grandmother of Jesus. Many sick people have been healed at this famous church in her honour in Canada: St Anne de Beaupre

Which explains all the crutches here:

Sirach 44-50

It is good to remember the famous people in history who had a special love for God.

Remembering their faith and their love for God will give us courage for our daily lives.

They were human and made mistakes, yet they persevered in serving the Lord.

People like Abraham, Moses, David. Let us try to imitate their faith and courage.

Lord, please give me courage to live each day as I should

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 

Hebrews 6.11-19

May every one of you persevere in your Christian life. Never give up

Remember how Abraham persevered in following God, 
despite so many difficulties

Take a firm grip on the hope that is held out to us by God. This hope is an anchor for us, a lifeline going right up to heaven

Jesus, you are my anchor. You are my lifeline

Recording 

 Matthew 9.35-37

Jesus went to many towns and villages. In the local prayer halls he taught people the Good News of God's kingdom. He healed all sorts of diseases and sicknesses.

He felt sorry for the ordinary people because they were like sheep without a shepherd
- leaderless, exploited, and feeling hopeless.

He said to his friends: "So many people don't have good leaders.
Pray to God to send good leaders".

Jesus,  many countries have bad leaders. Please help every country to have good leaders

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

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

109: Recording

The expression chaírei epì te adikía has to do with a negativity lurking deep within a person’s heart.

It is the toxic attitude of those who rejoice at seeing an injustice done to others. 

The following phrase expresses its opposite: sygchaírei te aletheía: “it rejoices in the right”. 

In other words, we rejoice at the good of others when we see their dignity and value their abilities and good works.

This is impossible for those who must always be comparing and competing, even with their spouse, so that they secretly rejoice in their failures.

Its parent company, Worlds of Wonders, has links to Satanism?

Is Pokemon Go Evil, Dangerous or Demonic?

108: Recording

The idea of promoting a different cultural paradigm and employing technology as a mere instrument is nowadays inconceivable. The technological paradigm has become so dominant that it would be difficult to do without its resources and even more difficult to utilize them without being dominated by their internal logic. 

It has become countercultural to choose a lifestyle whose goals are even partly independent of technology, of its costs and its power to globalize and make us all the same. Technology tends to absorb everything into its ironclad logic, and those who are surrounded with technology “know full well that it moves forward in the final analysis neither for profit nor for the well-being of the human race”, that “in the most radical sense of the term power is its motive – a lordship over all”.[87] 

As a result, “man seizes hold of the naked elements of both nature and human nature”.[88] Our capacity to make decisions, a more genuine freedom and the space for each one’s alternative creativity are diminished.

83: Recording 

And so the biggest threat of all gradually takes shape: “the gray pragmatism of the daily life of the Church, in which all appears to proceed normally, while in reality faith is wearing down and degenerating into small-mindedness”.

 A tomb psychology thus develops and slowly transforms Christians into mummies in a museum. Disillusioned with reality, with the Church and with themselves, they experience a constant temptation to cling to a faint melancholy, lacking in hope, which seizes the heart like “the most precious of the devil’s potions”.

 Called to radiate light and communicate life, in the end they are caught up in things that generate only darkness and inner weariness, and slowly consume all zeal for the apostolate. For all this, I repeat: Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of the joy of evangelization!      

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 26th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Xinjian

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 26th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Togo

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)

"Only a fool says there is no God" 
 (Psalm 14)

Islam File    The New Translation

"Same-sex marriage" file

Heard from a most reliable source: Kenya's Attorney General arrived in Beijing last night .... one item on his agenda being the signing of a prisoner transfer agreement with China. Hopefully he will also come to Hong Kong ... where a separate agreement needs to be signed 

My diary for the next five days, starting today says: High Court, High Court, High Court, High Court, High Court. 

Would be great if dear Kenyan Attorney General (see left) could attend one of these sentencing trials .... to see the sadness of an African being given a long sentence for drug trafficking to HK

From a reader in HK - be careful of scams like this one:
 

- quite possibly prepared by someone at an internet shop in Tsim Sha Tsui, HK (... I've seen people there doing this sort of thing!)

Sirach 42-43

What an amazing world we live in! The Creator sure did a good job programming everything!

Great is the Lord who made the sun, the moon and stars. What a beautiful creature is the rainbow!

The seasons, the rain, the snow, lightning and thunder: all proclaim the glory of God.

How great is God who has made such an amazing universe. How can we praise and honor him enough?

Dear God, thank you for creating the world. Please help us live the way you want us to live

My recording of this reading

Psalm 128

O blessed are those who love the Lord and walk in his ways.

By the labor of your hands you shall eat. You will be happy and prosper:

your wife like a fruitful vine in the heart of your house; your children like shoots of the olive, around your table.

Indeed thus shall be blessed the people who love and honor the Lord.

May the Lord bless you from Zion all the days of your life. May you see your children's children in a happy Jerusalem!

On Israel, peace!

Dear Lord, may all married people live to see their children's children
Recording 

Hebrews 4.12-16

The word of God is something alive and active. It goes deep into our hearts

In Jesus we have the supreme high priest who is now in the highest heaven. He knows how weak we are. He himself was tempted in every way, but did not sin

Let us be confident in approaching his throne of grace.
He will give us grace when we are in need of help

Jesus, our high priest, help me when I'm weak

Recording

(For Feast of Saint James)

Matthew 20.20-28

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

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

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

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

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

Recording 

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

108: Recording

All this assumes that we ourselves have had the experience of being forgiven by God, justified by his grace and not by our own merits.

We have known a love that is prior to any of our own efforts, a love that constantly opens doors, promotes and encourages.

If we accept that God’s love is unconditional, that the Father’s love cannot be bought or sold, then we will become capable of showing boundless love and forgiving others even if they have wronged us

Otherwise, our family life will no longer be a place of understanding, support and encouragement, but rather one of constant tension and mutual criticism.

107 Recording

It can be said that many problems of today’s world stem from the tendency, at times unconscious, to make the method and aims of science and technology an epistemological paradigm which shapes the lives of individuals and the workings of society. 

The effects of imposing this model on reality as a whole, human and social, are seen in the deterioration of the environment, but this is just one sign of a reductionism which affects every aspect of human and social life. 

We have to accept that technological products are not neutral, for they create a framework which ends up conditioning lifestyles and shaping social possibilities along the lines dictated by the interests of certain powerful groups. 

Decisions which may seem purely instrumental are in reality decisions about the kind of society we want to build.

82: Recording

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

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

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

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

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

A long but happy day for me yesterday at St Paul's, Yau Ma Tei: 8.30 am and 10am Chinese Masses ... then home for cold shower (to recover from record heat ....wet shirts), then salad lunch and rest ...then 3pm - 5pm healing service, then 5pm - 7pm gathering for the poor. At 10 am Mass when a group of about 20 small children came forward to the altar to help me with my sermon, I was blessed to see one tiny girl - carried by her father - wearing a t-shirt with the words in English "my father - (heart symbol) - me" ...which beautifully helped illustrate yesterday's Gosel (.. the "Our Father")

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

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

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

I spent a large part of yesterday morning at the High Court, where a sizeable part of the proceedings was spent discussing whether the defendant - a woman from South Africa - should be given a little reduction because she helped my campaign to warn Africans about the danger of bringing drugs to HK.

Some judges give a reduction, others - including the one yesterday - don't, sadly. This discrepancy in sentencing will receive media attention in the near future.

And yesterday something happened that even the seasoned defence barrister had never experienced: the prosecution barrister stood up and supported the case for reduction, quoting a recent case where a Nigerian man was given a reduction for helping the campaign. But one judge beats two barristers ... sadly.

Do not recognize your illness. Each time you speak of it to others, you stabilize it.

- God at Eventide, July 20

c.f. readings for Feast! of Mary Magdalene

Song of Songs 3.1-4

Jesus, please increase my love for you, my longing for you

Psalm 63

O God, you are my God, for you I long. My body and soul thirst for you, like a dry, weary land without water.

Your love is better than life, my lips will speak your praise.

On my bed I remember you. On you I muse through the night.

Lord, our hearts are restless, until they rest in you

Recording

Mary Magdalene:

2 Corinthians 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

 Mary Magdalene:
 friend, icon, model

Mary Magdalene  
(Wikipedia)

John 20.11-18

Peter and John went home. Mary Magdalene remained at the tomb, crying. When she looked inside the tomb, she saw two angels in white. She also saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognize him

Jesus said "Woman, why are you crying?". Mary thought he was the gardener so she said to him "If you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him"

Jesus said "Mary" and she recognized him. Jesus then said "I will ascend to my Father"

Mary went and told the disciples all she had seen and heard

Jesus, please bless people who are crying at funerals  today. May awareness of your presence bring them peace and strength for the days ahead

Recording

Vatican defends "The Joy of Love" against conservatives

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

105: Recording

Once we allow ill will to take root in our hearts, it leads to deep resentment.

 The phrase ou logízetai to kakón means that love “takes no account of evil”; “it is not resentful”. 

The opposite of resentment is forgiveness, which is rooted in a positive attitude that seeks to understand other people’s weaknesses and to excuse them.

 As Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).

 Yet we keep looking for more and more faults, imagining greater evils, presuming all kinds of bad intentions, and so resentment grows and deepens. 

Thus, every mistake or lapse on the part of a spouse can harm the bond of love and the stability of the family. 

Something is wrong when we see every problem as equally serious; in this way, we risk being unduly harsh with the failings of others. The just desire to see our rights respected turns into a thirst for vengeance rather than a reasoned defence of our dignity.

Recommended 
by a reader in Australia

YouTube:
Humility the key for Templeton Prize winner

104: Recording

Yet it must also be recognized that nuclear energy, biotechnology, information technology, knowledge of our DNA, and many other abilities which we have acquired, have given us tremendous power. More precisely, they have given those with the knowledge, and especially the economic resources to use them, an impressive dominance over the whole of humanity and the entire world. 

Never has humanity had such power over itself, yet nothing ensures that it will be used wisely, particularly when we consider how it is currently being used. We need but think of the nuclear bombs dropped in the middle of the twentieth century, or the array of technology which Nazism, Communism and other totalitarian regimes have employed to kill millions of people, to say nothing of the increasingly deadly arsenal of weapons available for modern warfare. In whose hands does all this power lie, or will it eventually end up? It is extremely risky for a small part of humanity to have it.

79: Recording

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

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

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

Yesterday's menu (uploaded on Wednesday night) had a joke about a Scotsman's blood not being generous. I had to eat those words at lunchtime yesterday when a very kind Scotsman invited a friend and me for a lunch time meeting concerning prisoners .... and a lovely meal! 

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 22nd of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Zhejiang

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 22nd of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Rwanda

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

Though law could reduce prisoners’ plight, first address drug trafficking 

- written about this website's campaign by a young lady I happened to be seated next to on a bus ride from Nairobi to Meru in last Dec 31. Thank you Liz for excellent article!

Enter the dragon fruit: liquid cocaine worth HK$15 million found squeezed into 98 fruits arriving at Hong Kong airport from Colombia

Letter from a Tanzanian inmate in a HK prison for drug trafficking. She's the first one this year ...compared with one a week before this website's campaign began in 2013. 
Her letter here at new dedicated website
(www.tanzaniablog.org) 

Sirach 38-39

All healing is a gift of God.
To obtain healing:  pray to the Lord, ask forgiveness for sin,
then follow the doctor's advice.

Mourn for the dead  and honor their graves, but do not let your heart be controlled by grief.

Ordinary working people have little time for study. But the Lord blesses everyone who studies wisdom.

Lord, please heal my friend (..name..) who is sick

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

Matthew 9.18-26

A prayer hall official came to Jesus and said "My daughter has just died. Please come and lay your hand on her and she will come back to life".

As Jesus and his friends were following the official to his home, a woman who had a hemorrhage for 12 years came up behind Jesus and touched his clothing.

The woman had said to herself "If I can even touch his clothing, I will be healed".

Jesus knew what she was doing and said to her "My daughter, your faith has healed you". Instantly she was healed.

When Jesus arrived at the official's house he saw a crowd of people crying loudly.

Jesus said to them "Get out of the house. The little girl is asleep, not dead".  The crowd laughed at Jesus.

After the crowd had gone outside, Jesus went inside. He took the little girl by the hand, and she stood up.

News of what had happened spread all round the district.

Jesus, please increase my faith in your power to heal the sick and raise the dead

Recording

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

104: Recording

The Gospel tells us to look at the log in our own eye (cf. Mt 7:5). Christians cannot ignore the persistent admonition of God’s word not to nurture anger: “Do not be overcome by evil” (Rm 12:21). “Let us not grow weary in doing good” (Gal 6:9). 

It is one thing to sense a sudden surge of hostility and another to give into it, letting it take root in our hearts: “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger” (Eph 4:26).

My advice is never to let the day end without making peace in the family. 

“And how am I going to make peace? By getting down on my knees? No! Just by a small gesture, a little something, and harmony within your family will be restored. Just a little caress, no words are necessary. But do not let the day end without making peace in your family”.112

 Our first reaction when we are annoyed should be one of heartfelt blessing, asking God to bless, free and heal that person. “On the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, that you may obtain a blessing” (1 Pet 3:9). If we must fight evil, so be it; but we must always say “no” to violence in the home.

‘Empty promises’ of fashion brands slammed as NGO goes undercover to reveal poor China factory conditions

103: Recording 

Technoscience, when well directed, can produce important means of improving the quality of human life, from useful domestic appliances to great transportation systems, bridges, buildings and public spaces.

It can also produce art and enable men and women immersed in the material world to “leap” into the world of beauty.

Who can deny the beauty of an aircraft or a skyscraper? Valuable works of art and music now make use of new technologies.

So, in the beauty intended by the one who uses new technical instruments and in the contemplation of such beauty, a quantum leap occurs, resulting in a fulfilment which is uniquely human.

Brendan Hoban

78: Recording

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

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

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

To this the Arab replied: "Aye, but I now have Scottish blood in my veins".

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 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 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)

Letter from a South American inmate in a HK prison for drug trafficking - describing how she was "set up":

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

Airmailed cocaine leads to HK$2 million haul and arrest of three Indonesian asylum seekers 
- the latest in a growing group... some of them tricked while using Facebook

Marriage has nothing to do with children, apparently

Tiernan Brady helped run the Irish referendum which redefined marriage there. When I mentioned the connection between marriage and children he became visibly uncomfortable and tried to assert same-sex marriage has nothing to do with children

Christine Aquino update:

Christine is now at her parents home in Manila. Last night on the phone she sounded strong, though she said the pain in her stomach area is still severe. 

Her phone number is +63 9079973006. Manila is one hour ahead of HK. 

Thank you Jesus for getting Christine home. Now please keep her looking forward to her 40th birthday on July 29!

Chris McDonnell   (UK blogger)

Fit for purpose

I have known parishes where the parish priest and people have been imaginative in their acceptance of a deacon as part of the community. And it has worked well, to the greater pastoral benefit of all. And others…? we all know the story.

Sirach 35-37

Be generous as the Lord has been generous to you. Be cheerful when you make a gift to the Lord.

The humble person's prayer pierces the clouds, so love the Lord with a humble heart.

If a property has no fence, it will be plundered. If a man has no wife, he is like a boat without an anchor.

Be careful when you consult other people. After all consultation, follow the advice of your own heart.

Lord, please give me a cheerful and humble heart

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 

Hebrews 2.14-18

The Son did not become an angel.
He became a man, so that he could die for us

By his death he took away the power of the devil

He himself experienced temptation. He is able to help us when we are tempted

Jesus, please help me when I am tempted to do something wrong

Recording 

Matthew 9.14-17

One day John the Baptist's friends asked Jesus "How come we and the religious leaders fast, but your friends don't?"

Jesus replied "Fasting is a good thing, and after I have left this world my friends will  fast.

But remember that multiplying external prayers and fasts
without a change of heart  is useless.

Out of date religious structures need a drastic overhaul, not just external plastic surgery."

Jesus, please help me practise a bit of fasting, especially  each Friday, the day you died

Recording 

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

103: Recording

If the first word of Paul’s hymn spoke of the need for a patience that does not immediately react harshly to the weaknesses and faults of others, the word he uses next – paroxýnetai – has to do more with an interior indignation provoked by something from without. 

It refers to a violent reaction within, a hidden irritation that sets us on edge where others are concerned, as if they were troublesome or threatening and thus to be avoided. 

To nurture such interior hostility helps no one. It only causes hurt and alienation. 

Indignation is only healthy when it makes us react to a grave injustice; when it permeates our attitude towards others it is harmful.

A letter to an 11-year-old Aids activist who shamed South Africa's president

102b: Recording 

The modification of nature for useful purposes has distinguished the human family from the beginning; technology itself “expresses the inner tension that impels us gradually to overcome material limitations”.[82]

Technology has remedied countless evils which used to harm and limit human beings. How can we not feel gratitude and appreciation for this progress, especially in the fields of medicine, engineering and communications? 

How could we not acknowledge the work of many scientists and engineers who have provided alternatives to make development sustainable?

3 really excellent

articles from

“So much sadness and tragedy in the world”
Who amongst our world leaders has the capacity and the skill to engage in a long-term healing process for a wounded world, especially in the Middle East, asks Good Samaritan Sister Clare Condon.

Lost battles of the Christian churches
How do the Christian churches effectively counter such marketplace-driven ideas as assisted suicide, asks Garry Everett.

Hear the voters: growing inequality matters
Across the western world, people are revolting against political and economic systems which are demonstrably unfair and which polarise rich and poor. Redemptorist Father Bruce Duncan looks at growing inequality in the US and elsewhere, and how neoliberal philosophy influenced the 2016 Federal election in Australia.

77: Recording

As children of this age, though, all of us are in some way affected by the present globalized culture which, while offering us values and new possibilities, can also limit, condition and ultimately harm us.

 I am aware that we need to create spaces where pastoral workers can be helped and healed, “places where faith itself in the crucified and risen Jesus is renewed, where the most profound questions and daily concerns are shared, where deeper discernment about our experiences and life itself is undertaken in the light of the Gospel, for the purpose of directing individual and social decisions towards the good and beautiful”.[62]

 At the same time, I would like to call attention to certain particular temptations which affect pastoral workers.

Robert Mickens:   Que sera Sarah?
Pope Francis says he does not like to fire people. But it looks like he could be running out of patience with Cardinal Robert Sarah (who wants priests to say Mass with their backs to the people)

 .... Alleluia!

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 Sichuan

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 Gambia

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 Burundi

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

Letter from a South African inmate in a HK prison for drug trafficking - a 26 year old mother of three children:
   
   

South China Morning Post - today's report 
Terminally ill former Hong Kong asylum seeker finally returned to Philippines

Jesus, thank you for helping Christine make it to July 19. May she also make it to July 29 - her 40th birthday. And may her return home somehow bring about a healing miracle - driving away cancer from her body. Jesus, please tsunami Christine with your healing love! 
And dear Lord, please bless all the kind people who have visited and helped Christine since she was released from detention on March 1.

Sirach 32-34

If you are chosen for an important job, don't let it go to your head.

When you speak, keep to the point. Say much in a few words.

Reflect before you act. Look before you leap.

Travel broadens the mind. Ask God's protection when you travel.

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 

Hebrews 1.1-4

At various times in the past and in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets

But in our own time, he has spoken to us through his Son,
through whom he made everything. He is the radiant light of God the Father's glory

He has sacrificed himself for sinners. He has taken his place at the right hand of the Father.
He is far greater than any angel

Jesus, deepen my understanding of who you are

Recording 

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

 Matthew 9.9-13

One day when Jesus was walking past a customs house he said to a tax collector  named Matthew "Follow me". Matthew got up and followed Jesus.

Matthew invited Jesus and Jesus' friends to a dinner in his house.
Some tax collectors and "bad" people sat at Jesus' table.

Religious leaders saw this and complained to Jesus' friends
"Why does your master eat with tax collectors and bad people?"

Jesus' answer was "It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick.

Go and think about the Bible words 'What I want is mercy, not sacrifice'. I have a special concern for rejects and down-and-outs."

Jesus, please help religious leaders in today's world to care more about people who are rejected by society

Recording 

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

102: Recording

  Saint Thomas Aquinas explains that “it is more proper to charity to desire to love than to desire to be loved”;110 

indeed, “mothers, who are those who love the most, seek to love more than to be loved”.111

 Consequently, love can transcend and overflow the demands of justice, “expecting nothing in return” (Lk 6:35), and the greatest of loves can lead to “laying down one’s life” for another (cf. Jn 15:13).

 Can such generosity, which enables us to give freely and fully, really be possible? Yes, because it is demanded by the Gospel: “You received without pay, give without pay” (Mt 10:8).

102a: Recording

Humanity has entered a new era in which our technical prowess has brought us to a crossroads. 

We are the beneficiaries of two centuries of enormous waves of change: steam engines, railways, the telegraph, electricity, automobiles, aeroplanes, chemical industries, modern medicine, information technology and, more recently, the digital revolution, robotics, biotechnologies and nanotechnologies. 

It is right to rejoice in these advances and to be excited by the immense possibilities which they continue to open up before us, for “science and technology are wonderful products of a God-given human creativity”.[81] 

76: Recording 

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

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

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

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

At HK airport yesterday morning, as Christine waited for various officials to resolve her situation (see SCMP story at top of this menu), she indicated to me that she need to vomit. So I quickly took out a small plastic bag from my shoulder bag. But as she started vomiting quite heavily, she gestured that something was wrong: the B. bag had a hole in it, and vomit was spilling on her dress. Kind volunteers cleaned up the mess ...and I apologised to Christine for the experience.

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

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

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