My article in today's Ming Pao newspaper with the topic: 
Hong Kong independence?
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

Eight years on from Beijing 2008, an Olympic summer of love has turned sour in Hong Kong
   

        Yesterday I spent eight hours - from 10.15a.m. to 6.15p.m - at Lo Wu Women's Correctional Institution. Tomorrow I'm due to spend the day at Tai Lam Women's Centre.

I used to spend very little time at the women's prisons, but now I need to spend more time for a sad reason: the drug lords in various parts of the world are these days using woman as drug mules most of the time. Female drug mules this year out-number males

Isaiah 51-52

Pay attention to me, you peoples.
Listen to me, you nations.

The islands put their hope in the Lord. They put their trust in his strength.

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace and salvation, and tells Zion "Your God is king!"

Break into shouts of joy, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord is redeeming his people.

All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Lord, may more and more people in more and more countries know you and love you.

Psalms 9-13

I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart. You have so often rescued me from trouble. Thank you!

You are the best helper for people in trouble. Please keep on helping me when troubles come.

Please stop bad people from hurting others. Please let peoples in all countries know they must avoid evil and live a life of justice.

Dear Lord,  thank you for so often rescuing me

Recording 

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

1 Peter 2.4-9

Jesus is Mr Livingstone, the living stone rejected by men, but chosen by God.  Stay close to him, so that you too may be living stones in the spiritual house of God's church

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light

Jesus, you are the foundation stone of my life. May I build my life on your teaching, your values, your example

Recording 

 Matthew 17.14-20

A man went down on his knees and pleaded with Jesus:

"Lord, please help my son. He is crazy and does crazy things like falling into fire and into water.
I asked  your disciples to heal him but they were not able to."

There was an evil spirit oppressing the boy, so Jesus ordered the spirit to leave the boy. The boy was healed immediately.

Jesus' disciples asked him "Why were we unable to expel that spirit?"

Jesus answered "Because your faith is not strong enough."

Jesus, please increase my faith, so that my prayers can be of more help to other people

Recording 

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

137: Recording

Take time, quality time. This means being ready to listen patiently and attentively to everything the other person wants to say.

 It requires the self-discipline of not speaking until the time is right.

 Instead of offering an opinion or advice, we need to be sure that we have heard everything the other person has to say. 

This means cultivating an interior silence that makes it possible to listen to the other person without mental or emotional distractions.

 Do not be rushed. Put aside all of your own needs and worries, and make space.

 Often the other spouse does not need a solution to his or her problems, but simply to be heard, to feel that someone has acknowledge their pain, their disappointment, their fear, their anger, their hopes and their dreams. 

How often we hear complaints like: “He does not listen to me.” “Even when you seem to, you are really doing something else.” “I talk to her and I feel like she can’t wait for me to finish.” “When I speak to her, she tries to change the subject, or she gives me curt responses to end the conversation”.

Pope's critique of 'gender theory' emboldens bishops to speak out

131: Recording

Here I would recall the balanced position of Saint John Paul II, who stressed the benefits of scientific and technological progress as evidence of “the nobility of the human vocation to participate responsibly in God’s creative action”, while also noting that “we cannot interfere in one area of the ecosystem without paying due attention to the consequences of such interference in other areas”.[109]

He made it clear that the Church values the benefits which result “from the study and applications of molecular biology, supplemented by other disciplines such as genetics, and its technological application in agriculture and industry”.[110]

But he also pointed out that this should not lead to “indiscriminate genetic manipulation”[111] which ignores the negative effects of such interventions. 

Human creativity cannot be suppressed. If an artist cannot be stopped from using his or her creativity, neither should those who possess particular gifts for the advancement of science and technology be prevented from using their God-given talents for the service of others. We need constantly to rethink the goals, effects, overall context and ethical limits of this human activity, which is a form of power involving considerable risks.

113: Recording 

 The salvation which God has wrought, and the Church joyfully proclaims, is for everyone. God has found a way to unite himself to every human being in every age. He has chosen to call them together as a people and not as isolated individuals.

 No one is saved by himself or herself, individually, or by his or her own efforts. God attracts us by taking into account the complex interweaving of personal relationships entailed in the life of a human community. 

This people which God has chosen and called is the Church. Jesus did not tell the apostles to form an exclusive and elite group. He said: “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19).

 Saint Paul tells us in the people of God, in the Church, “there is neither Jew or Greek... for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28).

 To those who feel far from God and the Church, to all those who are fearful or indifferent, I would like to say this: the Lord, with great respect and love, is also calling you to be a part of his people!

10 years ago today

2006-08-23 Hong Kong, Notre Dame: Happy fund-raising group from St Edward's Parish

UK criminals use drones to smuggle drugs, phones into prison

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 23rd of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Guangxi

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 23rd of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Djibouti

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

Healthy living in unhealthy environment

Hong Kong has a radio activity level double that of Japan after the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima !

Christine Aquino went home to the other side of the veil last night in Manila.

Sincere sympathy to her dear family .... and many thanks to so many dear friends who helped her in HK and prayed for her.

Thank you Jesus for the privilege of knowing Christine. May her prayers in Heaven help us on this side of the veil.

Isaiah 50

The Lord has opened my ear to hear his message. The Lord has given me words to proclaim his message.

For my part, I made no resistance,
neither did I turn away.

I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who tore at my beard.

I did not protect my face from insult and spittle.

I set my face like flint. The Lord will help me.

Jesus, please help me understand how these words refer to you

My recording of this reading

Psalm 7

Lord God, I take refuge in you.
Please rescue me from people who are trying to hurt me.

Lord, please stop bad people from doing bad things.

Please help good people to keep on doing good things.

Lord, I will sing to you and thank you for your goodness to me.

Lord, please help me to avoid evil and to do good

Recording 

1 Peter 1.13 - 2.3

Delete rubbish from your minds. Control your thinking.

Trust more in Jesus. Live the way he wants you to live, not like the way you used to live before you learnt the truth. Be good and holy

Let your love for each other be real and from the heart

You are born again by the everlasting word of the living God

Never be spiteful, or deceitful, or hypocritical or envious and critical of each other

Jesus, help me live the way you want me to live

Recording 

Matthew 16.21-28

Jesus now began explaining to his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem to suffer, die and rise from the dead.

He also said "If you want to be my disciple, you must deny yourself, take up your own cross, and follow me.

Selfishness will ruin your life.
Self-sacrificing will bless your life.

What use is it to have everything in this world yet miss out on Heaven?"

Jesus, please help me find my life by losing it in service of others

Recording 

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

136: Recording

Dialogue is essential for experiencing, expressing and fostering love in marriage and family life.

 Yet it can only be the fruit of a long and demanding apprenticeship. 

Men and women, young people and adults, communicate differently. 

They speak different languages and they act in different ways.

 Our way of asking and responding to questions, the tone we use, our timing and any number of other factors condition how well we communicate. 

We need to develop certain attitudes that express love and encourage authentic dialogue.

130: Recording

In the philosophical and theological vision of the human being and of creation which I have presented, it is clear that the human person, endowed with reason and knowledge, is not an external factor to be excluded. 

While human intervention on plants and animals is permissible when it pertains to the necessities of human life, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that experimentation on animals is morally acceptable only “if it remains within reasonable limits [and] contributes to caring for or saving human lives”.[106]

The Catechism firmly states that human power has limits and that “it is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly”.[107] All such use and experimentation “requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation”.[108]

112: Recording

The salvation which God offers us is the work of his mercy. No human efforts, however good they may be, can enable us to merit so great a gift. God, by his sheer grace, draws us to himself and makes us one with him.[79] He sends his Spirit into our hearts to make us his children, transforming us and enabling us to respond to his love by our lives.

 The Church is sent by Jesus Christ as the sacrament of the salvation offered by God.[80] Through her evangelizing activity, she cooperates as an instrument of that divine grace which works unceasingly and inscrutably. 

Benedict XVI put it nicely at the beginning of the Synod’s reflections: “It is important always to know that the first word, the true initiative, the true activity comes from God and only by inserting ourselves into the divine initiative, only begging for this divine initiative, shall we too be able to become – with him and in him – evangelizers”.[81] 

This principle of the primacy of grace must be a beacon which constantly illuminates our reflections on evangelization.

Christine, thank you for so many smiles over the past 6 months ... maybe the best one was when I offered you a plastic bag at HK airport while you were waiting for your flight to Manila ....when you started vomiting ...only to find that the bag had a hole in it ....and your lovely new dress received some extra colors. 

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

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, 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 important article exposes the influence of powerful groups in society:

George Monbiot: Black Hole

The fake grassroots campaign run by grouse shooters is just one instance of the way democracy is being bypassed

The same forces are at play in the tobacco industry, fossil fuels, junk food, banking, guns, private health provision, in fact throughout public life

This is good!

In defense of the 'staycation' of Pope Francis

The Paraguayans and the Bolivians in the shanty towns of Buenos Aires couldn’t afford to go on vacation. And so, nor did he.

Yesterday morning: a very fruitful and encouraging meeting concerning prison conditions in HK ... and concerning this website's anti-drug campaign.    

Yesterday afternoon: I attended HK's High Court in support of an African inmate.

Isaiah 43-45

The Lord says:

Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name, you are mine.

If you travel over the seas, I will be with you. If you travel on great rivers, I will protect you.

For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your savior.

They are ignorant, those who carry around an idol made of wood, those who pray to a lump of wood that cannot hear.

Turn to me and be saved all peoples of the world.

Lord, please help me be more aware of your protection each day and night

My recording of this reading

Psalm 5

At the start of this day I pray to you, O Lord, my King and my God.  I offer you my prayer and ask for your help.

Through the greatness of your love, I have access to your friendship.  I bow down in reverence and worship.

Lead me, Lord, in the way you want me to go.

It is you, Lord, who bless good people. You surround them with favors, as with a shield.

Lord, I adore you as my Creator

Recording  

1 Peter 1.1-2

Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ, sends greetings to the believers living among foreigners

You were chosen by God the Father. You were made holy by the Spirit. You are obedient to Jesus Christ and are sprinkled with his blood

Grace and peace be with you more and more

Father, Son and Holy Spirit - thank you for life and faith

Recording

Matthew 15.29-31

Jesus went up into the hills near the Lake of Galilee. Large crowds came to him bringing the lame, the crippled, the blind, the dumb and many others.

These they put down at Jesus' feet. Jesus healed them all.

The crowds praised the God of Israel when they saw the dumb speaking, cripples whole again,
the lame walking and the blind able to see.

Jesus, please give sick people more faith in your healing love

Recording  

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

133: Recording

The love of friendship unifies all aspects of marital life and helps family members to grow constantly.

 This love must be freely and generously expressed in words and acts.

 In the family, “three words need to be used. I want to repeat this! Three words: ‘Please’, ‘Thank you’, ‘Sorry’. Three essential words!”.132

 “In our families when we are not overbearing and ask: ‘May I?’; in our families when we are not selfish and can say: ‘Thank you!’; and in our families when someone realizes that he or she did something wrong and is able to say ‘Sorry!’, our family experiences peace and joy”.133

 Let us not be stingy about using these words, but keep repeating them, day after day. For “certain silences are oppressive, even at times within families, between husbands and wives, between parents and children, among siblings”.134

The right words, spoken at the right time, daily protect and nurture love.

128: Recording

We were created with a vocation to work. The goal should not be that technological progress increasingly replace human work, for this would be detrimental to humanity. Work is a necessity, part of the meaning of life on this earth, a path to growth, human development and personal fulfilment. 

Helping the poor financially must always be a provisional solution in the face of pressing needs. The broader objective should always be to allow them a dignified life through work.

Yet the orientation of the economy has favoured a kind of technological progress in which the costs of production are reduced by laying off workers and replacing them with machines. This is yet another way in which we can end up working against ourselves. 

The loss of jobs also has a negative impact on the economy “through the progressive erosion of social capital: the network of relationships of trust, dependability, and respect for rules, all of which are indispensable for any form of civil coexistence”.[104] 

In other words, “human costs always include economic costs, and economic dysfunctions always involve human costs”.[105] To stop investing in people, in order to gain greater short-term financial gain, is bad business for society.

I thought of the above words, about replacing people with machines, at Brisbane airport on my return to HK recently. Airports are replacing check-in staff with machines.... to save money for the airlines....to make money for their investors. But Pope says "this is bad business for society".  "Amen" say the check-in staff who have lost their jobs (...and their families)

109: Recording

Challenges exist to be overcome! Let us be realists, but without losing our joy, our boldness and our hope-filled commitment. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of missionary vigour!

- check the names of the sheep!!!

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 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, 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)

Over the past few days I've watched Miracles from Heaven, a really well-made and inspiring movie, based on a true story. Ideal for all ages. Movie trailer here

 Vatican treats homeless to pizza and swim at beach

This is where I usually go once a month:
Asylum centre protests spark fear of more trouble

Time to defuse Nauru and Manus Island time bombs

'This is critical'- 103 Nauru and Manus staff speak out – their letter in full

Isaiah 41-42

The Lord says to his people Israel:

"I have chosen you. I have not rejected you. Do not be afraid, for I am with you.

Stop being anxious and worried.
I am your God. I give you strength and help.

Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights.

I have endowed him with my spirit that he may bring true justice to the nations.

He does not cry out or shout aloud. He does not extinguish the wavering flame.

I have called him to serve the cause of right, to open the eyes of the blind, to free captives from prison".

Lord, please help me understand how "my servant" is Jesus

My recording of this reading

Psalm 4

At the end of this day I praise you, Lord, for all your love and help.

O people of the world, how long will you close your hearts to God?
How long you will keep on chasing false goals?

Lord, you have put into my heart a joy that cannot be obtained by big meals and plenty of wine.

I will lie down in peace and sleep comes at once,
for you, Lord, make me dwell in safety and peace

Thank you, Lord, for your love and help right through today

Recording

James 5.13-18

If one of you is in trouble, pray. If you are happy, sing a psalm

If someone is sick, send for the elders of the church. They must anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord, and pray over him. The prayer of faith will save the sick man and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven

Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, and this will heal you

The heartfelt prayer of a good person is very powerful. Elijah prayed for rain, and rain came

Jesus, please help sick people have the opportunity to receive the "Anointing of the Sick"

Recording

Matthew 15.21-28

Jesus went to the coastal district near Tyre and Sidon. A foreign woman followed him and shouted
"Sir, Son of David, have pity on me. My daughter is tormented by an evil spirit."

At first Jesus did not answer her, so his disciples said to him "Help her, because she keeps shouting after us."

Jesus replied "I was sent only to the people of Israel". The foreign woman by now was kneeling at Jesus' feet. "Lord, help me" she pleaded.

Jesus said to her "Woman, you have great faith. Your wish is granted".  At that very moment, her daughter was healed.

Jesus, please give sick people great faith in you

Recording

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

132: Recording

To opt for marriage in this way expresses a genuine and firm decision to join paths, come what may.

 Given its seriousness, this public commitment of love cannot be the fruit of a hasty decision, but neither can it be postponed indefinitely.

 Committing oneself exclusively and definitively to another person always involves a risk and a bold gamble.

 Unwillingness to make such a commitment is selfish, calculating and petty. It fails to recognize the rights of another person and to present him or her to society as someone worthy of unconditional love.

 If two persons are truly in love, they naturally show this to others. 

When love is expressed before others in the marriage contract, with all its public commitments, it clearly indicates and protects the “yes” which those persons speak freely and unreservedly to each other. 

This “yes” tells them that they can always trust one another, and that they will never be abandoned when difficulties arise or new attractions or selfish interests present themselves.

127: Recording 

We are convinced that “man is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life”.[100] Nonetheless, once our human capacity for contemplation and reverence is impaired, it becomes easy for the meaning of work to be misunderstood.[101]

We need to remember that men and women have “the capacity to improve their lot, to further their moral growth and to develop their spiritual endowments”.[102] 

Work should be the setting for this rich personal growth, where many aspects of life enter into play: creativity, planning for the future, developing our talents, living out our values, relating to others, giving glory to God. 

It follows that, in the reality of today’s global society, it is essential that “we continue to prioritize the goal of access to steady employment for everyone”,[103] no matter the limited interests of business and dubious economic reasoning.

108: Recording

As I mentioned above, I have not sought to offer a complete diagnosis, but I invite communities to complete and enrich these perspectives on the basis of their awareness of the challenges facing them and their neighbours. 

It is my hope that, in doing so, they will realize that whenever we attempt to read the signs of the times it is helpful to listen to young people and the elderly. Both represent a source of hope for every people. 

The elderly bring with them memory and the wisdom of experience, which warns us not to foolishly repeat our past mistakes. Young people call us to renewed and expansive hope, for they represent new directions for humanity and open us up to the future, lest we cling to a nostalgia for structures and customs which are no longer life-giving in today’s world.

While I was in Australia recently, I went for a little jog late each afternoon around the property of Iona College where I was staying (..it has lots of playing fields!). On returning to HK I thought how I'd have no opportunity for jogging here ....only to find last Tuesday when I had only six minutes to go about 700 metres for the half-hourly mini-bus from Tai Lam Women's prison .... my old legs were able to make it ....with a minute or more to spare...towing my trolley, too!

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 18th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Shandong

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 18th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Ivory Coast

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)

July was world's hottest month since records began

HK student groups slam Education Bureau for suppressing separatist talk in schools

Rio 2016- First ever Olympic Gold for Fiji – team gives the glory to God 

Chris McDonnell   (UK blogger)

 A man remembered

... Fr Edward Daly, waving a blood-stained white handkerchief, leading a small group of men carrying a fatally wounded man ...

Isaiah 36-40

"Console my people, console them" says the Lord.

A voice cries out "Prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord.
Make a straight highway for our God across every desert.

Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low.

Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all people will see the Lord's glory."

Go up on a high mountain, joyful messenger to Zion.

Shout with a loud voice, joyful messenger to Jerusalem.

Shout to the towns of Judah "Here is your God".

Lord, please help me prepare your way into my heart, into  my family, into my world

Psalm 3

When people make fun of me for believing in you, Lord,
I deeply remember how you are my help and my shield.

Even when the whole world seems against me,
I can go to bed and sleep easy, knowing that you protect me.

O Lord, please rescue me from people who plot against me.
Lord our savior, please bless everyone who needs help.

Lord, thank you for your protection and help

Recording 

James 5.1-6

Are you rich and powerful? Then start weeping for the miseries that are coming your way

Your wealth is rotting, your clothes are being eaten by moths.
And your body also will soon be corroding in a burning fire

You cheated your workers. You lived a life of luxury without any care for people who were suffering

You condemned and killed the innocent

Jesus, give uncaring rich and powerful people a change of heart

Recording 

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

James (above) to politicians who support pro-abortion laws:

You condemned and killed the innocent

Matthew 15.1-20

Some religious leaders asked Jesus "Why do your disciples ignore many external practices of our religion?"

Jesus answered, with the words of the prophet Isaiah: "This people honors me with external lip-service, while their hearts are far from me."

Jesus also said "It's not certain foods or lack of washing  that makes a person unclean. It's evil in the  heart that makes a person unclean.

Evil intentions like murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, slander. These are the things that make a person unclean."

Jesus, please  clean my heart

Recording 

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

131: Recording

I would like to say to young people that none of this is jeopardized when their love finds expression in marriage. 

Their union encounters in this institution the means to ensure that their love truly will endure and grow. 

Naturally, love is much more than an outward consent or a contract, yet it is nonetheless true that choosing to give marriage a visible form in society by undertaking certain commitments shows how important it is. It manifests the seriousness of each person’s identification with the other and their firm decision to leave adolescent individualism behind and to belong to one another.

 Marriage is a means of expressing that we have truly left the security of the home in which we grew up in order to build other strong ties and to take on a new responsibility for another person.

 This is much more meaningful than a mere spontaneous association for mutual gratification, which would turn marriage into a purely private affair. 

As a social institution, marriage protects and shapes a shared commitment to deeper growth in love and commitment to one another, for the good of society as a whole. 

That is why marriage is more than a fleeting fashion; it is of enduring importance. Its essence derives from our human nature and social character. It involves a series of obligations born of love itself, a love so serious and generous that it is ready to face any risk.

126: Recording 

We can also look to the great tradition of monasticism. Originally, it was a kind of flight from the world, an escape from the decadence of the cities. The monks sought the desert, convinced that it was the best place for encountering the presence of God.

Later, Saint Benedict of Norcia proposed that his monks live in community, combining prayer and spiritual reading with manual labour (ora et labora). 

Seeing manual labour as spiritually meaningful proved revolutionary. Personal growth and sanctification came to be sought in the interplay of recollection and work.

This way of experiencing work makes us more protective and respectful of the environment; it imbues our relationship to the world with a healthy sobriety.

106: Recording

Even if it is not always easy to approach young people, progress has been made in two areas: the awareness that the entire community is called to evangelize and educate the young, and the urgent need for the young to exercise greater leadership.

 We should recognize that despite the present crisis of commitment and communal relationships, many young people are making common cause before the problems of our world and are taking up various forms of activism and volunteer work. Some take part in the life of the Church as members of service groups and various missionary initiatives in their own dioceses and in other places.

 How beautiful it is to see that young people are “street preachers” (callejeros de la fe), joyfully bringing Jesus to every street, every town square and every corner of the earth!

Yesterday I spent 9.15am to 5.50pm at Tai Lam Women's Centre (prison) ...where I noticed in one room a most refreshing big fan on the wall was made by a company called "Windy"!

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

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

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

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)