Pope: Church doesn’t need bureaucrats  and diligent office workers

 ....and should not be an administrative or bureaucratic organisation that never takes risks

This short video is good:

Violence in the Old Testament
(Seven Minute Seminary)
   

Jailed drug smuggler Michaella McCollum returns to Ireland from Peru

She served 27 months in prison, for 11kg of cocaine ...for which she would have served, after cuts, 144 months in HK

As the mercury soars, fear grows over ‘air-con effect’

The Pope's Perceptive Paragraph About Air Conditioning - Forbes

Isaiah 33-35

Strengthen all weary hands, steady all trembling knees, and say to all faint hearts "Courage! Do not be afraid. The Lord is coming to save you."

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed.

Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy.

Exiles will return to Zion shouting for joy, everlasting joy on their faces.

Joy and gladness will go with them. Sorrow and lament will be ended.

Lord, please heal the friends I know who are blind, deaf, dumb 

Psalm 2

Why are the nations revolting against God? Why won't the nations accept God?

O kings and rulers of the nations, listen to God's voice. Serve the Lord with love and honor.

Blessed are the nations that love the Lord

Let all the nations love you, Lord. Let all the nations 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

James 4.13-15

Avoid talking like this: "Tomorrow I'm going to another town, to do business there for a year "

You don't know what will happen tomorrow. You are no more than a mist that is here for a little while, then disappears

What you should say is: "If it's the Lord's will, tomorrow I'm going to another town for a year"

Jesus, help me to remember to say to people: "God willing, I will see you next month" or "Please God, I will see you next month", rather than just "I'll see you next month"

Recording 

 Matthew 14.34-36

When Jesus got out of the boat on the other side of the lake, people recognized him and news of his presence spread quickly.

From all around that area, sick people were brought to him. The sick people just wanted to touch his clothing.

All those who touched his clothing were healed

Jesus, please heal my sick friends (..names..) by letting them,
through prayer, touch your clothing

Recording 

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

130: Recording

On the other hand, joy also grows through pain and sorrow.

 In the words of Saint Augustine, “the greater the danger in battle the greater is the joy of victory”.131 

After suffering and struggling together, spouses are able to experience that it was worth it, because they achieved some good, learned something as a couple, or came to appreciate what they have. 

Few human joys are as deep and thrilling as those experienced by two people who love one another and have achieved something as the result of a great, shared effort.

125: Recording

If we reflect on the proper relationship between human beings and the world around us, we see the need for a correct understanding of work; if we talk about the relationship between human beings and things, the question arises as to the meaning and purpose of all human activity.

This has to do not only with manual or agricultural labour but with any activity involving a modification of existing reality, from producing a social report to the design of a technological development. 

Underlying every form of work is a concept of the relationship which we can and must have with what is other than ourselves.

Together with the awe-filled contemplation of creation which we find in Saint Francis of Assisi, the Christian spiritual tradition has also developed a rich and balanced understanding of the meaning of work, as, for example, in the life of Blessed Charles de Foucauld and his followers.

105: Recording 

Youth ministry, as traditionally organized, has also suffered the impact of social changes. Young people often fail to find responses to their concerns, needs, problems and hurts in the usual structures. 

As adults, we find it hard to listen patiently to them, to appreciate their concerns and demands, and to speak to them in a language they can understand. For the same reason, our efforts in the field of education do not produce the results expected. 

The rise and growth of associations and movements mostly made up of young people can be seen as the work of the Holy Spirit, who blazes new trails to meet their expectations and their search for a deep spirituality and a more real sense of belonging.

 There remains a need, however, to ensure that these associations actively participate in the Church’s overall pastoral efforts.

Last Saturday a local Chinese woman I've never met phoned to ask for a support letter for her son who was due to be in court yesterday to appeal for bail, in a case involving 2kg of Ice. I told the dear lady that rarely if ever is there bail for people with so much drugs. But I wrote a letter ... remembering my feeling that the man had been "set up" and comparing his case with that of the group of elderly foreigners arrested, bailed and acquitted over the past year in similar cases. Just before lunch yesterday the lady phoned, crying with joy: her son was given bail. DG!

Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:

Sun: Africa        Mon: Europe & Russia     Tues: South Asia      Wed: East Asia  
Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific       Frid: South America       Sat: Central & North America 
  
Jesus, today, Tuesday, please bless the people of South Asia

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 16th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Qinghai

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

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

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)

UK aristocrat's son's bail overturned after Kenya drug-smuggling charge 

  and a second report  

100k of cocaine from Brazil ...... destined for places like HK

HKFP Lens - Life in the gutter of "Asia’s world city"

Several of these photos are of my friends in the Yau Ma Tei area!

John W: August 15 Reflection: Vatican II encourages a healthy love for the mother of Jesus. In our spiritual DNA, there's something about Mary that moves our hearts on August 15. May this reflection be an encouragement to people who might be influenced to doubt the beautiful importance of Mary in God's plan and in our lives

c.f. readings for the Assumption

Revelation 12 

My recording of this reading

Psalm 44

Recording 

John Bucki SJ: Education for justice Assumption reflection

The spirituality of Mary invites us to the values of Catholic Social Teaching: concern for the poor, solidarity with all people, a preference for the ways of nonviolence rather than military might, forgiveness and reconciliation rather than domination and manipulation.

Daniel Daring: A Woman clothed with the sun - The Assumption of Mary

1 Corinthians 15

Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep.

Death came through one man and in the same way the resurrection of the dead has come through one man. 

Just as all people die in Adam, so all people will be brought to life in Christ; but all of them in their proper order: Christ as the first-fruits and then, after the coming of Christ, those who belong to him.

After that will come the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, having done away with every sovereignty, authority and power.

For he must be king until he has put all his enemies under his feet and the last of the enemies to be destroyed is death, for everything is to be put under his feet.

Recording  

Luke 1

Recording

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

129: Recording

The joy of this contemplative love needs to be cultivated. 

Since we were made for love, we know that there is no greater joy than that of sharing good things: “Give, take, and treat yourself well” (Sir 14:16).

 The most intense joys in life arise when we are able to elicit joy in others, as a foretaste of heaven. 

We can think of the lovely scene in the film Babette’s Feast, when the generous cook receives a grateful hug and praise: “Ah, how you will delight the angels!” 

It is a joy and a great consolation to bring delight to others, to see them enjoying themselves. This joy, the fruit of fraternal love, is not that of the vain and self-centred, but of lovers who delight in the good of those whom they love, who give freely to them and thus bear good fruit.

New diabetes treatment 'easier, cheaper' option
About 20,000 Australians suffering type 2 diabetes will be able to swap twice daily injections for a weekly treatment, and save around $1,600 per year under a new medicine to be placed on the PBS.

124: Recording

Any approach to an integral ecology, which by definition does not exclude human beings, needs to take account of the value of labour, as Saint John Paul II wisely noted in his Encyclical Laborem Exercens.

According to the biblical account of creation, God placed man and woman in the garden he had created (cf. Gen 2:15) not only to preserve it (“keep”) but also to make it fruitful (“till”). Labourers and craftsmen thus “maintain the fabric of the world” (Sir 38:34).

Developing the created world in a prudent way is the best way of caring for it, as this means that we ourselves become the instrument used by God to bring out the potential which he himself inscribed in things: “The Lord created medicines out of the earth, and a sensible man will not despise them” (Sir 38:4).

103: Recording

The Church acknowledges the indispensable contribution which women make to society through the sensitivity, intuition and other distinctive skill sets which they, more than men, tend to possess.

 I think, for example, of the special concern which women show to others, which finds a particular, even if not exclusive, expression in motherhood. I readily acknowledge that many women share pastoral responsibilities with priests, helping to guide people, families and groups and offering new contributions to theological reflection. 

But we need to create still broader opportunities for a more incisive female presence in the Church. Because “the feminine genius is needed in all expressions in the life of society, the presence of women must also be guaranteed in the workplace” and in the various other settings where important decisions are made, both in the Church and in social structures.

From a reader in Australia:
Best of British - short video

Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:

Sun: Africa        Mon: Europe & Russia     Tues: South Asia      Wed: East Asia  
Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific       Frid: South America       Sat: Central & North America 
  
Jesus, today, Monday,  please bless the people of Europe & Russia

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 15th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Liaoning

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

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

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)

Well, (no pun intended) over the past 10 full days in Australia, I have had 6 medical appointments .... for usual check-ups, including three extra visits for a few skin spots.

But - Deo Gratias - everything ok/well. God bless my Malaysian-Chinese doctor David See in Wynnum ... and a healthy Chinese diet in HK!

Midwife warns of abortion trauma after Queensland Nurses Union supports abortion bill

My "Letter to Editor" of Brisbane's Courier Mail yesterday:
Your August 9 cover story "Mason's Agony" was horrifying. How could anyone treat a 21-month-old toddler like that?  But if Mason's body had been "fatally broken" a few minutes after he was born, in line with the proposed Abortion Bill, the Qld government would pay the bill for the "fatality". 

 
A reminder from China that the 'War on Christians' is truly global

Sixty Chinese refugees have asked for political asylum in the Czech Republic on the basis that being Christian exposes them to persecution. Though Chinese media have cast doubt on whether they're really believers, it's nevertheless a reminder of the complex global nature of anti-Christian threats.

Isaiah 28-30

God says: "I will punish priests and prophets who mislead the people. Their mouths utter lies.

They honor me only with lip-service while their hearts are far from me.

Religion has become just a mental exercise, just a series of human laws."

The Lord appeals to everyone:
trust in him and cease to do evil.

Salvation is found in conversion and tranquility. Strength is found in complete trust in the Lord.

Lord, please help us honor you with our hearts as well as our heads

My recording of this reading

Psalm 149-150

Sing a new song to the Lord.
Let the praise of God be always on our lips.

Praise God in his holy temple.
Praise him in the heavens.

O praise him with sound of trumpet. Praise him with lute and harp.

Praise him with drums and dancing. Praise him with strings and pipes.

Let everything that lives and breathes, give praise to the Lord our Creator.  Alleluia!

Lord, to you we say every day "Allelu-ia" ("praise God")

Recording  

James 3.16-17

Wherever you find jealousy and ambition, you find disharmony and evil practices

On the other hand,  wisdom from heaven is good and peaceful and kindly and considerate. It is full of compassion, and does good.
There is no trace of partiality or hypocrisy in it

Jesus,  give me wisdom. Make me peaceful 

Recording

Matthew 14.13-21

Once after Jesus had been healing and teaching many people all afternoon,  his disciples said to him "It's getting late and the people need to go and eat".

Jesus replied "They don't need to go. You feed them". The disciples said "We have only 5 loaves and 2 fish".

Jesus got the people to sit on the grass. There were about 20,000 of them. Then he blessed the loaves and fish.

He handed the loaves and fish to his disciples. His disciples gave them to the crowd.

Everyone had plenty to eat. They even had 12 baskets of leftovers.

Jesus, please make leaders do more to help  the starving people of the world

Recording  

Custody of my eyes - Why I don't watch violent viral videos

c.f.  How can we stop the anger, end the fear?

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

126: Recording

In marriage, the joy of love needs to be cultivated.

 When the search for pleasure becomes obsessive, it holds us in thrall and keeps us from experiencing other satisfactions. 

Joy, on the other hand, increases our pleasure and helps us find fulfilment in any number of things, even at those times of life when physical pleasure has ebbed. 

Saint Thomas Aquinas said that the word “joy” refers to an expansion of the heart.127

 Marital joy can be experienced even amid sorrow; it involves accepting that marriage is an inevitable mixture of enjoyment and struggles, tensions and repose, pain and relief, satisfactions and longings, annoyances and pleasures, but always on the path of friendship, which inspires married couples to care for one another: “they help and serve each other”.128

Widespread condemnation of Australian government by UN and others

122: Recording

A misguided anthropocentrism leads to a misguided lifestyle.

In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, I noted that the practical relativism typical of our age is “even more dangerous than doctrinal relativism”.[99] 

When human beings place themselves at the centre, they give absolute priority to immediate convenience and all else becomes relative. 

Hence we should not be surprised to find, in conjunction with the omnipresent technocratic paradigm and the cult of unlimited human power, the rise of a relativism which sees everything as irrelevant unless it serves one’s own immediate interests. 

There is a logic in all this whereby different attitudes can feed on one another, leading to environmental degradation and social decay.

 U.S.-born Australian basketball player competing in Rio centered on faith, coaches say

100: Recording

Those wounded by historical divisions find it difficult to accept our invitation to forgiveness and reconciliation, since they think that we are ignoring their pain or are asking them to give up their memory and ideals.

But if they see the witness of authentically fraternal and reconciled communities, they will find that witness luminous and attractive. 

It always pains me greatly to discover how some Christian communities, and even consecrated persons, can tolerate different forms of enmity, division, calumny, defamation, vendetta, jealousy and the desire to impose certain ideas at all costs, even to persecutions which appear as veritable witch hunts. Whom are we going to evangelize if this is the way we act?

Olympic Games ... Australia winning gold medals from day one ....different from last Olympics....about 5 days before a gold medal....by which stage New Zealand (friendly neighbour and rival) had two gold ....those days it was embarrassing being an Australian in HK ...I especially tried to avoid New Zealanders.

Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:

Sun: Africa        Mon: Europe & Russia     Tues: South Asia      Wed: East Asia  
Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific       Frid: South America       Sat: Central & North America 
  
Jesus, today, Friday,  please bless the people of South America

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 12th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Jiangsu

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

And praying for one Islam-related intention each day of the week:
Jesus, on this Muslim day of prayer, please bless all Muslims!

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

Pediatricians back Pope on 'gender theory'

The largest study ever of twin transsexual adults found that only 20 percent of identical twins both identified as transgender, despite their identical DNA.

Encouraging gender fluidity and identity experimentation among children is one of the primary causes of gender dysphoria

Mother Teresa's version of 'small things' led to big results

Isaiah 26-27

Trust in the Lord for ever, for the Lord is an everlasting Rock.

Lord, we trust in you, we hope in you. At night our hearts long for you.

Lord, when we shelter under your protection you give us peace.

Lord, please help us trust you more

My recording of this reading

Psalm 148

Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights. Praise him all his angels, praise him all his spirits. Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, shining stars.

Let them praise the name of the Lord. His word gave life to all of them.

Praise the Lord from the earth,
sea creatures and all oceans. Praise him fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy winds that obey his word.

Praise him all mountains and hills, all fruit trees and cedars. Praise him all animals, wild and tame, reptiles and birds in the air.

Praise him all earth's kings and peoples, earth's princes and rulers. Praise him young men and maidens, old people together with children.

Let them praise the name of the Lord. He is the praise of all who love him.

Lord our God and Creator, you are worthy of all praise

Recording

James 3.3-10

When a bit is put into a horse's mouth, the whole animal is under control. A tiny rudder can control a big ship

In the same way, if you can control your tongue, you can control every other part of yourself

The tongue is a whole wicked world in itself. It is so hard to control. We use it to bless God, but we also use it to curse people made in God's image

Jesus, please help me control my tongue!

Recording

Matthew 14.1-12

Not long after Jesus began traveling and teaching, King Herod arrested John the Baptist and put him in prison.

This was because John had told Herod he was breaking the Law
by living with Herodias,  his brother's wife.

During a birthday party for Herod, the daughter of Herodias danced.

Her dancing so pleased Herod
that he said he would give her anything she wanted.

Herodias told her to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a dish.

Herod then had John beheaded.

John's disciples came and buried the body.

Jesus, please give the world good leaders, and protect people from bad leaders like Herod
Recording

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

125: Recording

Marriage is likewise a friendship marked by passion, but a passion always directed to an ever more stable and intense union. 

This is because “marriage was not instituted solely for the procreation of children” but also that mutual love “might be properly expressed, that it should grow and mature”.125

 This unique friendship between a man and a woman acquires an all-encompassing character only within the conjugal union. 

Precisely as all-encompassing, this union is also exclusive, faithful and open to new life. It shares everything in constant mutual respect. 

The Second Vatican Council echoed this by stating that “such a love, bringing together the human and the divine, leads the partners to a free and mutual self-giving, experienced in tenderness and action, and permeating their entire lives”.126

Not just for Hackney hipsters: the Kenyan sourdough bakery tackling blindness

121: Recording 

We need to develop a new synthesis capable of overcoming the false arguments of recent centuries. 

Christianity, in fidelity to its own identity and the rich deposit of truth which it has received from Jesus Christ, continues to reflect on these issues in fruitful dialogue with changing historical situations. In doing so, it reveals its eternal newness.[98]

99: Recording

Our world is being torn apart by wars and violence, and wounded by a widespread individualism which divides human beings, setting them against one another as they pursue their own well-being. In various countries, conflicts and old divisions from the past are re-emerging.

 I especially ask Christians in communities throughout the world to offer a radiant and attractive witness of fraternal communion. Let everyone admire how you care for one another, and how you encourage and accompany one another: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35).

 This was Jesus’ heartfelt prayer to the Father: “That they may all be one... in us... so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21). Beware of the temptation of jealousy! We are all in the same boat and headed to the same port! Let us ask for the grace to rejoice in the gifts of each, which belong to all.

Hong Kong’s record-breaking Olympic swimmer Siobhan Haughey making waves in Ireland as they discover she is related to former prime minister  (...that means she's also "related" to me, because former PM's brother is Fr Eoghan Haughey O.M.I. !)

Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:

Sun: Africa        Mon: Europe & Russia     Tues: South Asia      Wed: East Asia  
Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific       Frid: South America       Sat: Central & North America 
  
Jesus, today, Thursday,  please bless the people of S.E. Asia & Pacific

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 11th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Hunan

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 11th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Eritrea

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

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)

What's already happening in the US will soon be threatening other places:

The Transgender Straw has broken the Camel's Back - It's Time to Declare Independence from Public Schools
The administration’s letter sweeps far beyond bathrooms — imposing a new speech code on school employees and even students, opening girls’ showers to boys, requiring schools to allow boys to sleep in girls’ rooms on overnight field trips, requiring boys to room with girls even in single-sex dorms, and putting boys on girls’ sports teams

Chris McDonnell   (UK blogger)

The Sturgeon Moon

Some Native American tribes knew that the Sturgeon of the Great Lakes were most readily caught during this full Moon, so they called it the Sturgeon Moon

Isaiah 25

On Mount Zion in Jerusalem, the Lord will prepare for all peoples
a banquet of rich food, a banquet of fine wines.

On this mountain he will delete Death.

The Lord will wipe away the tears from every cheek.

Lord, you are my God, I extol you, I praise your name.

You, Lord, are a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in distress.

Lord, please give hope and courage to people who are sad and troubled in the world today

Psalm 147

Praise the Lord for he is good.
Sing to our God for he is loving. To him our praise is due.

The Lord builds up Jerusalem and brings back Israel's exiles.

He heals the broken-hearted and binds up all their wounds.

The Lord raises the lowly and humbles the wicked.

He fixes the number of the stars.
He calls each one by name.

Our Lord is great and almighty.
His wisdom can never be measured.

He covers the heavens with clouds. He prepares rain for the earth, making mountains sprout with grass and with plants to serve our needs.

His delight is not in horses nor his pleasure in warriors' strength.

The Lord delights in those who love and honor him, in those who wait for his love.

It is right and fitting to praise and love you, Lord our Creator

Recording 

James 2.14-26

Faith and good works need to go together.

Suppose someone is lacking clothes and food, and you say "I wish you well" and do nothing to help them.

What good is that? Faith without good deeds is useless

Jesus, please help me put my faith into action by good deeds

Recording 

Matthew 13.53-58

One day Jesus went to Nazareth, his home town.

In the prayer hall there he taught the local people.

But the local people would not accept him.  They said "Where did he get such wisdom and miraculous power? He is just a carpenter's son. His mother is that woman called Mary.

His brothers are James, Joseph, Simon and Jude. His sisters are here, too. He's nobody special."

Jesus said to them "A prophet is despised only in his own country and his own house".

And he did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Jesus, please give me more faith in you .... and don't let me reject people

Recording 

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

124: Recording

A love that is weak or infirm, incapable of accepting marriage as a challenge to be taken up and fought for, reborn, renewed and reinvented until death, cannot sustain a great commitment. 

It will succumb to the culture of the ephemeral that prevents a constant process of growth.

 Yet “promising love for ever is possible when we perceive a plan bigger than our own ideas and undertakings, a plan which sustains us and enables us to surrender our future entirely to the one we love”.123 

If this love is to overcome all trials and remain faithful in the face of everything, it needs the gift of grace to strengthen and elevate it. 

In the words of Saint Robert Bellarmine, “the fact that one man unites with one woman in an indissoluble bond, and that they remain inseparable despite every kind of difficulty, even when there is no longer hope for children, can only be the sign of a great mystery”.124

Malawi Catholic politicians set differences aside to aid Missionaries of Charity orphanage

120: Recording 

Since everything is interrelated, concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion.

How can we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties?

 “If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of the new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away”.[97]

Recommended by
 a reader in Australia

98: Recording

How many wars take place within the people of God and in our different communities! In our neighbourhoods and in the workplace, how many wars are caused by envy and jealousy, even among Christians! 

Spiritual worldliness leads some Christians to war with other Christians who stand in the way of their quest for power, prestige, pleasure and economic security.

Some are even no longer content to live as part of the greater Church community but stoke a spirit of exclusivity, creating an “inner circle”. Instead of belonging to the whole Church in all its rich variety, they belong to this or that group which thinks itself different or special.

Queenslanders get the facts on abortion
This bill allows abortion to birth, for any reason, without conscientious objection for medical or other hospital staff. If legislated, Queensland would have the worst abortion laws in the world

Kind business man felt sorry for old man outside hotel holding a fishing line over a can of water.
Kind man invited him for a drink in the hotel. Kind man thought he'd humour the old man by asking "Have you caught any today?" To which the old man replied "You're the eighth one"

Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:

Sun: Africa        Mon: Europe & Russia     Tues: South Asia      Wed: East Asia  
Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific       Frid: South America       Sat: Central & North America 
  
Jesus, today, Wednesday,  please bless the people of East Asia

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 10th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Hubei

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 10th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Guinea

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)

My regular article in today's Ming Pao newspaper with the topic: Mainland Chinese cheated in Australia is on Ming Pao website - click "Australian in HK."

Free access to article with recording today from about noon to 8pm HK time. 
Text without recording

Interview:  Lawmaker Claudia Mo on Hong Kong’s press freedom and self-determination

“There’s hardly any media boss who’s not a member of the CPPCC or the NPC, and if you work for that sort of proprietor, as a journalist, a reporter, an editor, you know how to behave.”
   

Archbishop uses pulpits to slam Duterte's Philippines crime crackdown

Villegas said he is in "utter disbelief" over Duterte's campaign that has so far left more than 600 alleged drug pushers dead, many of them killed by unknown assailants or vigilante groups.

Chris McDonnell (UK blogger)

Afternoon stillness

Written after a visit to nuns of a small Benedictine house near Chester UK      

Isaiah 20-24

Trust in the Lord, not in military might. Israel is going the wrong way in forgetting God's protection.

It has no thought for its Maker,
no eyes for him who shaped everything long ago.

The reason why the earth is without rain and crops is that people have forgotten their Creator.

Lord, please increase my trust in you, and help all nations remember you

Psalm 146

My soul, give praise to the Lord.
I will praise the Lord all my days.

Put no trust in princes, in mortal men in whom there is no help.

Take their breath, they return to clay and their plans that day come to nothing.

They are happy who are helped by Jacob's God, whose hope is in the Lord our God, who alone made heaven and earth, the seas and all they contain.

It is he who gives bread to the hungry, the Lord, who sets prisoners free.

It is the Lord who gives sight to the blind, who raises up those who are bowed down.

It is the Lord who protects the stranger and upholds the widow and orphan.

It is the Lord who loves the just
but thwarts the path of the wicked.

The Lord will reign for ever, Zion's God, from age to age.

Lord, please increase my trust and faith in you

Recording 

James 2.1-13

Don't try to combine faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with the making of distinctions between classes of people

Suppose two men come into your prayer meeting, one beautifully dressed and with a gold ring; the other poor and in shabby clothes

If you welcome the rich man, and look down on the poor man, you are making a big mistake

It was those who are poor according to the world that God chose to be rich in faith

So, never make distinctions between classes of people.
Everyone is your neighbor. Love your neighbor as yourself

There will be judgment without mercy for people who have not been merciful. But merciful people need have no fear of judgment

Jesus, help me treat everyone equally and fairly. No favorites

Recording 

 Matthew 13: 31 - 33; 44; 47 - 50

Jesus said to the people:

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. It's the smallest of all seeds. But it becomes a big bush,  then a big tree that the birds live in.

The kingdom of heaven is like yeast which leavens flour.

The kingdom of heaven is like  treasure in a field. Someone finds it, then sells all they have to buy the field.

The kingdom of heaven is like a fishing net that catches all sorts of fish. Good fish are put in a basket. Useless fish are thrown away. So at the end of time, bad people will be thrown into hell.

Jesus, may your kingdom come, your will be done

Recording 

Mustard seeds:

On Islam and violence: Pope + Patriarch = Full Story

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

123: Recording

After the love that unites us to God, conjugal love is the “greatest form of friendship”.122

 It is a union possessing all the traits of a good friendship: concern for the good of the other, reciprocity, intimacy, warmth, stability and the resemblance born of a shared life. 

Marriage joins to all this an indissoluble exclusivity expressed in the stable commitment to share and shape together the whole of life. 

Let us be honest and acknowledge the signs that this is the case. Lovers do not see their relationship as merely temporary. Those who marry do not expect their excitement to fade. Those who witness the celebration of a loving union, however fragile, trust that it will pass the test of time. Children not only want their parents to love one another, but also to be faithful and remain together. 

These and similar signs show that it is in the very nature of conjugal love to be definitive. The lasting union expressed by the marriage vows is more than a formality or a traditional formula; it is rooted in the natural inclinations of the human person. 

For believers, it is also a covenant before God that calls for fidelity: “The Lord was witness to the covenant between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant… Let none be faithless to the wife of his youth. For I hate divorce, says the Lord” (Mal 2:14-16).

119: Recording

Nor must the critique of a misguided anthropocentrism underestimate the importance of interpersonal relations.

If the present ecological crisis is one small sign of the ethical, cultural and spiritual crisis of modernity, we cannot presume to heal our relationship with nature and the environment without healing all fundamental human relationships. 

Christian thought sees human beings as possessing a particular dignity above other creatures; it thus inculcates esteem for each person and respect for others.

Our openness to others, each of whom is a “thou” capable of knowing, loving and entering into dialogue, remains the source of our nobility as human persons. 

A correct relationship with the created world demands that we not weaken this social dimension of openness to others, much less the transcendent dimension of our openness to the “Thou” of God.

Our relationship with the environment can never be isolated from our relationship with others and with God. Otherwise, it would be nothing more than romantic individualism dressed up in ecological garb, locking us into a stifling immanence.

Trafficking of Nigerian women into prostitution in Europe 'at crisis level'

97: Recording 

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

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

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

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

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

Maybe my eyesight is going....I can't see what the problem is:
Who is to blame?  Flawed Chinese flag raised at Rio medal ceremonies

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 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 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

Queensland MPs must put the adopted child first, not same-sex couples

  
Critics see China’s fingerprints all over the turmoil at Hong Kong’s anti-corruption authority

Christine, former Hong Kong inmate, former HK asylum seeker, former drug user, now back in Philippines, living in parents' home, bravely fighting increasing pain from cervix cancer stage 4 ... asking for continuing prayers. Jesus, please tsunami Christine with your love!

Background photos and reports

Isaiah 13-19

God will punish the world for its evil-doing. Then  peoples' hearts will turn back to their Creator.

Then people will no longer worship idols made by human hands. Instead, people will look towards their Creator.

The nations will be converted and know the Lord. Egypt and Assyria will be blessed like Israel.

The Lord will give his blessing in these words: "Blessed be my people Egypt, blessed be Assyria my creation, and blessed be Israel my heritage".

Lord, please help all Middle East countries, especially Israel, Egypt, Iran and Iraq, to be friends

My recording of this reading

Psalm 145

I will give you glory, O God my king. I will bless your name day after day.

The Lord is great, worthy of all praise. His greatness cannot be measured.

Age to age shall proclaim your works, shall speak of your splendor and glory.

The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love.

How good is the Lord to all,
compassionate to all his creatures.

All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord, and tell all the world of your love.

The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds.

The Lord supports all who fall
and raises all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all creatures look to you and you give them their food each day.

The Lord is close to all who call him, who call on him from their hearts.

Let the whole world bless the Lord's holy name, for ever, for ages unending.

Thank you, Lord, for your love. Thank you for your love

Recording 

James 1.26-27

Don't go thinking you're "religious" while your tongue is out of control. That's the wrong idea of religion

Genuine religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows, and staying clear of bad values

Jesus, help me control my tongue
...and help me do more to help the poor

Recording 

Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43

Jesus told the people another story:

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. An enemy came and sowed weeds in the same field.

When the good seed sprouted, so did the weeds. The man's servants asked if they should get rid of the weeds.

"No", said the man, "you might damage the good seed if you do that. Let them both grow till harvest time. Then burn the weeds."

Then Jesus explained his story:

"I am the sower. The field is the world. The good seed stands for people of good will. The weeds stand for people of bad will. The enemy is Satan.

At the end of the world, the Son of Man will send his angels to sort out the good and the bad people. Bad people will go to hell.  Good people will go to heaven".

Jesus, please protect good people from bad people

Recording 

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

122: Recording

We should not however confuse different levels: there is no need to lay upon two limited persons the tremendous burden of having to reproduce perfectly the union existing between Christ and his Church, for marriage as a sign entails “a dynamic process…, one which advances gradually with the progressive integration of the gifts of God”.121

Brendan Hogan

Addressing Maynooth
There's a lot of upset among people about the allegations that have been made against Maynooth Seminary

118: Recording

This situation has led to a constant schizophrenia, wherein a technocracy which sees no intrinsic value in lesser beings, coexists with the other extreme, which sees no special value in human beings.

But one cannot prescind from humanity. There can be no renewal of our relationship with nature without a renewal of humanity itself. There can be no ecology without an adequate anthropology. 

When the human person is considered as simply one being among others, the product of chance or physical determinism, then “our overall sense of responsibility wanes”.[96] 

A misguided anthropocentrism need not necessarily yield to “biocentrism”, for that would entail adding yet another imbalance, failing to solve present problems and adding new ones.

Human beings cannot be expected to feel responsibility for the world unless, at the same time, their unique capacities of knowledge, will, freedom and responsibility are recognized and valued.

96: Recording

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

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

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

My faithful set of blue shirts, made in Zhaoqing (China) c. 2007, have well and truly worn out ....but I've been unable to get good replacements in HK (nearest type of material too thick for Summer, or too expensive). A few days ago here in Brisbane, I found what I was looking for in a St Vincent de Paul second hand shop: 2 lovely shirts, AUD$10 each ....and ..."buy two, get one free". So, 3 shirts for $20. Then I went to next door Red Cross second hand shop and got two more, also $10 each (but no free third shirt). Five shirts for AUD$40!

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 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 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)

This is important!

The Purse is Mightier Than the Pen 
by George Monbiot

There are many levels of bias in the media, but the most important is the bias against relevance

Editorial of Catholics for Renewal:
A Church united by Christian faith

Editorial focuses on some of the attributes and qualities needed by the institutional Church if it is to respond adequately to the scandal of Clerical Child Sexual Abuse, and looks beyond to our whole catholic faith.

Pope  suggests the way to beat secularism is by 'out-loving' it

The right way to resist secularism and to win souls isn’t to prevail in intellectual arguments, but to “out-love” the opponents of the faith and thereby draw people to the Church.

Why Hong Kong independence debate is vital for the city’s democracy

The CCP’s swift move to curb thoughts of independence and limit the rights of localists to run in elections is a prelude to more widespread repression that has always been in the cards. The independence advocates didn’t create this political firestorm; they only hastened it while they still have enough rights to fight back

Isaiah 10-12

Woe to legislators who issue unjust laws, laws which exploit poor people.

A day of reckoning is coming
when unjust legislators will answer to the Lord.

The Lord will send a good and just king to rescue the poor.

A shoot will spring from the stock of Jesse, on him the spirit of the Lord will rest, a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power, a spirit of knowledge, a spirit of love and respect for the Lord.

He will judge justly and the land will know peace.

The country will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. Exiles will return to their homeland.

Then we will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation, for great in our midst will be the Holy One of Israel.

Lord, please help governments to do more for poor people

My recording of this reading

Psalm 144

Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
who gives me strength for every situation.

He is my love, my fortress. He is my stronghold, my savior.

To you, O God, will I sing a new song, you who so often rescued David your servant.

Happy the people whose God is the Lord. Please continue to bless your people, Lord.

Let our sons flourish like saplings
grown tall and strong from their youth; our daughters graceful as columns, adorned as though for a palace.

Let our crops and stock be blessed. May there be no sound of weeping on our streets.

Lord, please help us love and honor you every day. Don't let us ever forget your love

Recording  

James 1.19-25

Be quick to listen, and slow to speak, and even slower to get angry. God's goodness is never helped by human anger

Accept and submit to the word which has been planted in your heart and can save your soul

Do what the word tells you. Don't just listen to it. Actively put God's word into practice in your life

Jesus, help me put your word into practice in my life each day

Recording

Matthew 13.1-23

One day Jesus told the people this story: A farmer was planting seeds in his field. Some seeds fell on the path. Birds ate them.

Some seeds fell on rocky ground.
They became sickly plants, without roots, and died.

Some seeds fell among thorns.
When they became plants, they were choked by the thorns.

Some seeds fell on good soil
and produced a rich harvest.

People who hear God's word without good will, are like the seeds on the path. They are easy prey for Satan.

People who hear God's word only superficially are like the seeds on rocky ground. As soon as difficulties come, such people easily give up.

People who hear God's word with one ear but with the other listen to the call of greed and pleasure are like the seeds among thorns. Greed kills the word.

People who hear God's word with good will and put it into practice are like the good seeds which produced a rich harvest.

Jesus, please help me be good seed! 

Recording 

American named to women deacons panel feels like she won Oscar

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

119: Recording

In family life, we need to cultivate that strength of love which can help us fight every evil threatening it. 

Love does not yield to resentment, scorn for others or the desire to hurt or to gain some advantage. 

The Christian ideal, especially in families, is a love that never gives up.

 I am sometimes amazed to see men or women who have had to separate from their spouse for their own protection, yet, because of their enduring conjugal love, still try to help them, even by enlisting others, in their moments of illness, suffering or trial. Here too we see a love that never gives up.

Obama commutes hundreds of drug sentences

115: Recording

Modern anthropocentrism has paradoxically ended up prizing technical thought over reality, since “the technological mind sees nature as an insensate order, as a cold body of facts, as a mere ‘given’, as an object of utility, as raw material to be hammered into useful shape; it views the cosmos similarly as a mere ‘space’ into which objects can be thrown with complete indifference”.[92] The intrinsic dignity of the world is thus compromised. 

When we fail to find our true place in this world, we misunderstand ourselves and end up acting against ourselves

This website's statistics for July 2016

May this little site continue to "punch above it's weight" in helping prisoners and other poor people ....and encouraging us to follow the example of Pope Francis in his concern for the world and the Church

93: Recording

Spiritual worldliness, which hides behind the appearance of piety and even love for the Church, consists in seeking not the Lord’s glory but human glory and personal well-being.

 It is what the Lord reprimanded the Pharisees for: “How can you believe, since you look to one another for approval, and are not concerned with the approval that comes from the one God? (Jn 5.44 JB translation) 

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

Yesterday morning when I visited dear friends Jan and Kerry whose family once owned the property that is now Iona College where I am staying, they gave me breakfast (after I had been fasting before going for pathology appointment ...one of several check ups this week). Jan used two eggs for scrambling ....and both of them were doubles!  Not sure if this is a joke or a yoke...

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 5th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Guangzhou

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 5th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Chad

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)

By a Kenyan writer:

World turmoil as youth are cut off from communities    

What is going on? How do we make sense of this world?

Pope complains schools are telling children they can choose their gender 

‘It’s the epoch of sin against God the Creator.’ 

Photos of happy reunion on August 2 at Iona College chapel with Ray and Margaret Kelly whose wedding I was privileged to attend at the chapel on this day, August 4, 1979. Happy 37th Anniversary Margaret and Paul!

France farewells murdered priest 

Reconciliation was an overarching theme of the Mass, and Hamel's sister Roselyne told the congregation: "Let us learn to live together. The world has so much need for hope."

Isaiah 9

The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light. On those who live in a land of deep shadow, a light has shone.

For the yoke that was weighing on them, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken and removed.

For there is a child born for us, a son given to us and dominion is laid on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonder-Counselor, Mighty-God, Eternal-Father, Prince-of-Peace.

Lord, Prince of Peace, thank you for the peace and hope and joy of your friendship and love

My recording of this reading

Psalms 140-143

Lord, save me from people who do evil, you who do justice for the needy.

I have no way out of this situation. And no one wants to help me.

Lord, I beg you tonight to make haste and give me an answer, for my spirit fails within me.

In the morning let me know your love for I put my trust in you.

Lord, please help people who are in big trouble

Recording

James 1.1-12

From James, servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Greetings to believers scattered around the world

You will always have difficulties and things going wrong. When they happen, praise God for them and patiently keep going

Blessed are people who stand firm when trials come. They have proved themselves, and will win the prize of eternal life which the Lord has promised to those who love him

Jesus, please give me patience and praise when life gets tough

Recording

Matthew 12.46-50

One day when Jesus was speaking to a crowd of people inside a house, his mother and brothers arrived at the house.

From outside the house they sent a message to say they would like to speak with him.

When Jesus heard they were there, he said "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"

Then holding out his hand towards his disciples he said
"Here are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven, that person is my brother and sister and mother."

Brother Jesus,  please help me do the will of your Father in heaven

Recording

Pope taps pro-women deacon advocates to new commission

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

118: Recording

Panta hypoménei. This means that love bears every trial with a positive attitude. It stands firm in hostile surroundings.

 This “endurance” involves not only the ability to tolerate certain aggravations, but something greater: a constant readiness to confront any challenge. It is a love that never gives up , even in the darkest hour. It shows a certain dogged heroism, a power to resist every negative current, an irrepressible commitment to goodness.

 Here I think of the words of Martin Luther King, who met every kind of trial and tribulation with fraternal love: “The person who hates you most has some good in him; even the nation that hates you most has some good in it; even the race that hates you most has some good in it. And when you come to the point that you look in the face of every man and see deep down within him what reli-gion calls ‘the image of God’, you begin to love him in spite of [everything]. No matter what he does, you see God’s image there. There is an element of goodness that he can never sluff off…

 Another way that you love your enemy is this: when the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it… When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system… Hate for hate only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. If I hit you and you hit me and I hit you back and you hit me back and so on, you see, that goes on ad infinitum. It just never ends. Somewhere somebody must have a little sense, and that’s the strong person. The strong person is the person who can cut off the chain of hate, the chain of evil… Somebody must have religion enough and morality enough to cut it off and inject within the very structure of the universe that strong and powerful element of love”.114

c.f. the spin job here  
- no mention of the "h"/"G"  word .... ACP editor's  pro-rainbow policy

114: Recording 

All of this shows the urgent need for us to move forward in a bold cultural revolution.

Science and technology are not neutral; from the beginning to the end of a process, various intentions and possibilities are in play and can take on distinct shapes. 

Nobody is suggesting a return to the Stone Age, but we do need to slow down and look at reality in a different way, to appropriate the positive and sustainable progress which has been made, but also to recover the values and the great goals swept away by our unrestrained delusions of grandeur

Keep pushing, cracks are appearing

The edifice holding up harmful public policy ideas like abortion and same-sex marriage will crash over. This is because the edifice is rotten

92: Recording

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

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

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

10 years ago today

Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:

Sun: Africa        Mon: Europe & Russia     Tues: South Asia      Wed: East Asia  
Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific       Frid: South America       Sat: Central & North America 
  
Jesus, today, Thursday,  please bless the people of S.E. Asia & Pacific

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 4th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Guandong

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 4th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Mozambique

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)

This is BIG NEWS! 
And notice that one of the commission members is Phyllis Zagano!

Pope sets us commission to study female diaconate

Duterte accused of 'reign of terror' in Philippines

One month into Mr Duterte's six-year presidency, around 500 drug suspects have been executed. Police are responsible for many of the killings.

One of the very few Filipinos prepared to speak out about the extra-judicial killings is Catholic priest Father Amado Picardal.

Chris McDonnell   (UK blogger)

A long time passing

This week is marked by two significant dates from 1945, the use of the atomic weapons first on the city of Hiroshima on August 6th and three days later on Nagasaki

Isaiah 7

A foreign king and his army attacked  Jerusalem. The king of Judah and his people were full of fear.

God told Isaiah to say to the king of Judah: "Keep calm, have no fear.  You will not be defeated.

The Lord himself  gives you a sign of his protection: a maiden is with child and will give birth to a son whom she will call God-with-us."

Lord,  please help me understand how you are God-with-me every day

Psalm 139

O Lord, you search me and you know me. You know my resting and my rising.

You know exactly what's going on in my life, all my ways are an open book to you.

Before ever a word is on my tongue, you know, O Lord, what I'm going to say.

Your knowledge is beyond my understanding, too high, beyond my reach.

It was you who created my being,
knit me together in my mother's womb.

I thank you for the wonder of my life, for the wonders of all your creation.

Lord, thank you for the gift of life. Please help me follow the path to eternal life

Recording 

Hebrews 13.8-21

Jesus Christ is the same today as he was yesterday and as he will be for ever

Do not let yourselves be led astray by strange doctrines that teach a different Jesus

Jesus died outside the city. Let us go to him and share his rejection.

Our life in this world is a temporary arrangement, like a tent. We look for a permanent home in the life to come

Keep doing good works and sharing your resources

God of peace, you brought  Jesus back from the dead to be our great Shepherd and Priest. Make me ready to do your will in any kind of good action

Recording 

Matthew 12.9-14

On another Sabbath Jesus  visited a prayer hall. A man with a withered hand was in the hall.

Some religious leaders asked Jesus, to trap him, "Is it lawful to heal a man on the Sabbath day?"
(The leaders taught that no "work" could be done on the Sabbath).

Jesus replied: "If one of your sheep fell down a hole on the Sabbath, wouldn't you lift it out?

A man is more important than a sheep. Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."

Then Jesus said to the man with the withered hand "Stretch out your hand". He stretched it out. It was healed.

The religious leaders left the prayer hall and began plotting how to get rid of Jesus.

Jesus, please stop bad religious leaders from misleading people

Recording 

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

117: Recording

Here hope comes most fully into its own, for it embraces the certainty of life after death. 

Each person, with all his or her failings, is called to the fullness of life in heaven. 

There, fully transformed by Christ’s resurrection, every weakness, darkness and infirmity will pass away. 

There the person’s true being will shine forth in all its goodness and beauty.

This realization helps us, amid the aggravations of this present life, to see each person from a supernatural perspective, in the light of hope, and await the fullness that he or she will receive in the heavenly kingdom, even if it is not yet visible

Life after Kony - how Uganda's women are rebuilding their lives

113b: Recording 

If architecture reflects the spirit of an age, our megastructures and drab apartment blocks express the spirit of globalized technology, where a constant flood of new products coexists with a tedious monotony. 

Let us refuse to resign ourselves to this, and continue to wonder about the purpose and meaning of everything.

Otherwise we would simply legitimate the present situation and need new forms of escapism to help us endure the emptiness.

Jesus, please give Pope Francis a safe trip to Assisi tomorrow

91: Recording

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

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

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

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

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 3rd of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Gansu

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 3rd 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)