This is good news!

Pope hails ‘good’ relations with China after he receives gift from President Xi Jinping

(a computer photo ... may it come true!)

My article in today's Ming Pao newspaper with the topic: 
HK Janny Law in Malawi - update 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 

Good news from a Facebook reader of this website: 

the whole of Healed of Cancer by Dodi Osteen is now free online Here

Updated and more extensive video of shooting near my home last Sunday morning.
Here

Overnight raids in Yau Ma Tei as police search for suspects in machete attack, blamed on drunken confrontation

Psalm 16:

Please protect me, Lord, I take refuge in you. You are the only source of all true happiness.

I bless you, Lord, who guide and lead me. Even at night you direct my heart.

And so my heart rejoices, my soul is glad. My body shall rest in safety now and always.

You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence, at your right hand, happiness for ever.

Recording  

Francis was a stigmata

Matthew 11.28:

Jesus said to the people: "Come to me, all you who are treated unfairly by unjust religious laws. I will give you peace and justice.

Learn from me, and you will know peace, for I am gentle and humble of heart"

Recording  

Francis is the patron saint of animals

The Prayer of Saint Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace; Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek To be consoled as to console; To be understood as to understand; To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Recording  

St Francis was inspired by God to try to get the Church to return to the principles of the Gospel.
His namesake, Pope Francis, is now trying to do the very same thing

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

178: Recording

Some couples are unable to have children.

We know that this can be a cause of real suffering for them. 

At the same time, we know that “marriage was not instituted solely for the procreation of children… Even in cases where, despite the intense desire of the spouses, there are no children, marriage still retains its character of being a whole manner and communion of life, and preserves its value and indissolubility”.

So too, “motherhood is not a solely biological reality, but is expressed in diverse ways”.

168: Recording

Among positive experiences in this regard, we might mention, for example, the Basel Convention on hazardous wastes, with its system of reporting, standards and controls.

There is also the binding Convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora, which includes on-site visits for verifying effective compliance. 

Thanks to the Vienna Convention for the protection of the ozone layer and its implementation through the Montreal Protocol and amendments, the problem of the layer’s thinning seems to have entered a phase of resolution.

172: Recording 

One who accompanies others has to realize that each person’s situation before God and their life in grace are mysteries which no one can fully know from without. The Gospel tells us to correct others and to help them to grow on the basis of a recognition of the objective evil of their actions, but without making judgments about their responsibility and culpability. 

Someone good at such accompaniment does not give in to frustrations or fears. He or she invites others to let themselves be healed, to take up their mat, embrace the cross, leave all behind and go forth ever anew to proclaim the Gospel.

 Our personal experience of being accompanied and assisted, and of openness to those who accompany us, will teach us to be patient and compassionate with others, and to find the right way to gain their trust, their openness and their readiness to grow.

HK government-funded agency refuses to pay rent and utilities for refugees who helped Snowden

Visitor from Australia now staying in HK for a month as a volunteer - in a hostel near my home - thought he was imaging things when he heard what seemed like gunfire early Sunday morning. But, as video at top of today's menu shows, there's nothing wrong with his hearing!

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 4th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Guangdong

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 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

Moving photos:

As over 10,000 refugees in Hong Kong struggle, their children face an even bleaker future  

This is good:

Protesting too much - The public will see through CY’s 6-page legal threat against Apple Daily

One minute from my home:

In Pictures - Police fire shots during Yau Ma Tei knife attack, three injured

Video

Baruch 6

Because of your sins, you will be exiles in Babylon for seven generations.

In Babylon when you see all sorts of idols being worshipped by the local people, say in your hearts: "Master, it is you  we must worship."

Lord, when we are in places where people are worshipping idols, please help us remember to pray in our hearts: "Master, it is you we  worship"

My recording of this reading

Psalms 66-68

O God, be gracious and bless us
and let your face shine its light upon us.

Let all the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you.

O sing to the Lord, make music to his name. Rejoice in the Lord, exult at his presence.

Father of the orphan, defender of the widow, God provides a shelter for the homeless.

God gives his people strength.

May all the peoples of the earth know you and praise you, O God

Recording 

Revelation 2.12.-16

He gave me this message for the church in Pergamum:

"I know you live in a place where idol worship is strong.
I know you have stayed faithful, even after one of you was killed

But some of you have compromised yourselves by eating food sacrificed to idols. And some of you have followed false teachers

Listen to this message and repent"

Jesus, don't let me ever compromise my faith

Recording  

(I didn't know about the geographic order!)

Matthew 28.16-20

The 11 apostles went to Galilee,
to the mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them.

When they saw him they fell down before him in worship.

Jesus said to them "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Teach them to understand and live according to my words. And know that I am with you always, yes, to the end of time".

Jesus, "God-with-us",  please help us live our lives according to your teaching ....and thank you, Matthew, for this beautiful Gospel Report

Recording  

In Asia where there are so many temples and statues of various types, the words of Baruch today are good to remember when we pass such places ....or are required by family/friends to visit such places: when you see all sorts of idols being worshipped by the local people, say in your hearts: "Master, it is you  we must worship."

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

177: Recording

God sets the father in the family so that by the gifts of his masculinity he can be “close to his wife and share everything, joy and sorrow, hope and hardship. 

And to be close to his children as they grow - when they play and when they work, when they are carefree and when they are distressed, when they are talkative and when they are silent, when they are daring and when they are afraid, when they stray and when they get back on the right path. To be a father who is always present. 

When I say ‘present’, I do not mean ‘controlling’. Fathers who are too controlling overshadow their children, they don’t let them develop”. Some fathers feel they are useless or unnecessary, but the fact is that “children need to find a father waiting for them when they return home with their problems. They may try hard not to admit it, not to show it, but they need it”. It is not good for children to lack a father and to grow up before they are ready.

167: Recording

The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro is worth mentioning. It proclaimed that “human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development”.[126]

 Echoing the 1972 Stockholm Declaration, it enshrined international cooperation to care for the ecosystem of the entire earth, the obligation of those who cause pollution to assume its costs, and the duty to assess the environmental impact of given projects and works.

It set the goal of limiting greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere, in an effort to reverse the trend of global warming. It also drew up an agenda with an action plan and a convention on biodiversity, and stated principles regarding forests. 

Although the summit was a real step forward, and prophetic for its time, its accords have been poorly implemented, due to the lack of suitable mechanisms for oversight, periodic review and penalties in cases of non-compliance. The principles which it proclaimed still await an efficient and flexible means of practical implementation.

171: Recording

 Today more than ever we need men and women who, on the basis of their experience of accompanying others, are familiar with processes which call for prudence, understanding, patience and docility to the Spirit, so that they can protect the sheep from wolves who would scatter the flock.

 We need to practice the art of listening, which is more than simply hearing. Listening, in communication, is an openness of heart which makes possible that closeness without which genuine spiritual encounter cannot occur. Listening helps us to find the right gesture and word which shows that we are more than simply bystanders. 

Only through such respectful and compassionate listening can we enter on the paths of true growth and awaken a yearning for the Christian ideal: the desire to respond fully to God’s love and to bring to fruition what he has sown in our lives.

Australian Rugby League Grand Final yesterday:
Gutsy Sharks survive Storm surge to claim first-ever premiership

Yesterday's news from Australia:
Australia steps up shark tagging after mauling

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 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 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 morning I'm due to have 8.30 Chinese Mass as usual at St Paul's Yau Ma Tei. 

Then at 3pm I'm due to lead the annual feast day Mass for Peace on Peng Chau Island. My homily at Peng Chau will be based on this beautiful true story about family peace

Pope calls gender theory a 'global war' against the family

Pope won't go home in 2017

“You don’t know how much I would like to see you again. And I won’t be able to do it next year either because there are commitments with Asia and Africa, and the world is bigger than Argentina” 

Pope says Mass in largley empty stadium in Georgia - those invited did not come!

A more encouraging report of same Mass

c.f. Readings for "Sunday 27"

Other prophets

Pride of heart leads us astray

See how they are listless, those whose souls are not at peace

Lord, I have heard of all your wonderful deeds in the past. Do them again in our day, Lord!

Even when everything seems hopeless, I trust in you Lord, I praise you Lord.

Seek the Lord, all you humble people. Seek integrity, seek humility.

In the days to come, people will say "We want to go with you, since we have learnt that God is with you".

Rejoice heart and soul, people of Jerusalem. See, your king comes to you. He is humble and riding on a donkey.

Dear God, thank you for all the beautiful teachings and stories
 in  "The Old Testament", ("The First Testament").  I now look forward to your message in "The New Testament"  ("The Second Testament")

My recording of this reading

Psalm 95

Come ring out our joy to the Lord. Hail the rock who saves us.

Let us come before him giving thanks. With songs let us praise the Lord.

A mighty God is the Lord, a great king above all gods.

In his hand are the depths of the earth. The heights of the mountains are his.

To him belongs the sea, for he made it, and the dry land shaped by his hands.

Come in, let us bow and bend low. Let us kneel before the God who made us.

For he is our God and we are the people who belong to his pasture.

Lord, you are our Creator. Our life comes from you. We praise and love you, Lord

Recording 

2 Timothy 1.6-8

I remind you to fan into a flame the gift that God gave you when I prayed over you with the laying on of hands

God's gift was not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power,
and love and self-control

Never be ashamed of witnessing to the Lord. Like me and with me, put up with hardships for the sake of the Good News

Jesus, help me put up with hardships for the sake of the Good News

Recording  

Luke 17.5-6

Recording  

Faith without action is dead: today's readings encourage us to put our faith into action - by speaking up for justice, for the poor, by witnessing to Jesus. Not in a reckless, irresponsible, offending, counter-productive way. But like Pope Francis .... speaking the truth with love and compassion.

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

176: Recording

We often hear that ours is “a society without fathers”. 

In Western culture, the father figure is said to be symbolically absent, missing or vanished. Manhood itself seems to be called into question. 

The result has been an understandable confusion. “At first, this was perceived as a liberation: liberation from the father as master, from the father as the representative of a law imposed from without, from the father as the arbiter of his children’s happiness and an obstacle to the emancipation and autonomy of young people. 

In some homes authoritarianism once reigned and, at times, even oppression”.

Yet, “as often happens, one goes from one extreme to the other. 

In our day, the problem no longer seems to be the overbearing presence of the father so much as his absence, his not being there.

Fathers are often so caught up in themselves and their work, and at times in their own self-fulfilment, that they neglect their families. They leave the little ones and the young to themselves”.

The presence of the father, and hence his authority, is also impacted by the amount of time given over to the communications and entertainment media. 

Nowadays authority is often considered suspect and adults treated with impertinence. They themselves become uncertain and so fail to offer sure and solid guidance to their children.

A reversal of the roles of parents and children is unhealthy, since it hinders the proper process of development that children need to experience, and it denies them the love and guidance needed to mature.

166: Recording

Worldwide, the ecological movement has made significant advances, thanks also to the efforts of many organizations of civil society. It is impossible here to mention them all, or to review the history of their contributions. 

But thanks to their efforts, environmental questions have increasingly found a place on public agendas and encouraged more far-sighted approaches. This notwithstanding, recent World Summits on the environment have not lived up to expectations because, due to lack of political will, they were unable to reach truly meaningful and effective global agreements on the environment.

170: Recording

Although it sounds obvious, spiritual accompaniment must lead others ever closer to God, in whom we attain true freedom.

 Some people think they are free if they can avoid God; they fail to see that they remain existentially orphaned, helpless, homeless. They cease being pilgrims and become drifters, flitting around themselves and never getting anywhere.

To accompany them would be counterproductive if it became a sort of therapy supporting their self-absorption and ceased to be a pilgrimage with Christ to the Father

Well done Western Bulldogs in winning the AFL Grand Final yesterday in Melbourne! I was able to listen to the final quarter - what a game! A case of a big-hearted team beating a big-money team!  "Every dog has its day" !

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, Sunday,  please bless the people of Africa

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 2nd of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Fujian

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 2nd of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Niger

And praying for one Islam-related intention each day of the week:
Jesus, please bless all Muslims in my own country 

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 investigative journalism at its best:

HK police (& ICAC?) accused of repeated negligence in Garden Vista bid-rigging investigation

See my comment at end of article: HK authorities don't catch Big Fish

Vietnamese boat refugee - now a bishop in Australia - has lunch and refugee chat with Pope!

A future cardinal?

  
Letter in Spanish from a Peru woman in prison in HK on a drug trafficking charge. Here (Sep 16)

The other, darker legacy of Shimon Peres

"Shimon Peres, the last member of Israel’s founding generation, was feted internationally as a visionary man of peace. His legacy is in fact far more complex, and often nefarious"

Baruch 3-4

Listen, Israel, to commands that bring life and peace. Remember all that God has taught us.

As by your will you strayed away from God, so now turn back and search for him ten times as hard.

Lord, please help us not to forget you

Psalms 61-65

O God, hear my cry, you who are my refuge and help.

In you alone is my soul at rest. 
My help comes from you.

Take refuge in God, everyone in trouble. Trust him at all times.

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

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

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

You are the Creator of the world.
You care for the earth, you give it water.

To you our praise is due, wherever we are on earth.

Lord, my soul clings to you. Your right hand holds me fast

Recording  

Revelation 2.8-10

He gave me this message for the church in Smyrna:

"I know the trials you have been through, and how poor you are, and the slanderous attacks that have been made on you.

Do not be afraid of suffering, afraid of prison. Even if you have to die, keep faithful, and I will give you the prize of eternal life"

Jesus, help me stay faithful when I experience trials and suffering

Recording    

Today's Gospel:

Matthew 28.1-15

Jesus died on Friday afternoon.
Early on Sunday morning, two women went to Jesus' tomb.

Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, and an angel from heaven came and rolled away the big stone at the tomb's entrance.
The guards at the tomb were terrified of the angel.

The angel said to the women "Do not be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen from the dead. Go and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead and will see them in Galilee".

The women were filled with joy and ran to tell this news to the disciples.

As they left the tomb area, Jesus himself appeared to them and said  "Do not be afraid. Go and tell the disciples they must go to Galilee. They will see me there".

Lord Jesus, by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free. You are the Savior of the world.

Recording  

In the reading from Revelation, Jesus tells us "to stay faithful, even if you have to die". He's preaching what he practised 

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

175: Recording

A mother who watches over her child with tenderness and compassion helps him or her to grow in confidence and to experience that the world is a good and welcoming place.

This helps the child to grow in self-esteem and, in turn, to develop a capacity for intimacy and empathy.

A father, for his part, helps the child to perceive the limits of life, to be open to the challenges of the wider world, and to see the need for hard work and strenuous effort.

A father possessed of a clear and serene masculine identity who demonstrates affection and concern for his wife is just as necessary as a caring mother.

There can be a certain flexibility of roles and responsibilities, depending on the concrete circumstances of each particular family. But the clear and well-defined presence of both figures, female and male, creates the environment best suited to the growth of the child.

165: Recording 

We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels – especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas – needs to be progressively replaced without delay. 

Until greater progress is made in developing widely accessible sources of renewable energy, it is legitimate to choose the less harmful alternative or to find short-term solutions. 

But the international community has still not reached adequate agreements about the responsibility for paying the costs of this energy transition. In recent decades, environmental issues have given rise to considerable public debate and have elicited a variety of committed and generous civic responses. Politics and business have been slow to react in a way commensurate with the urgency of the challenges facing our world. Although the post-industrial period may well be remembered as one of the most irresponsible in history, nonetheless there is reason to hope that humanity at the dawn of the twenty-first century will be remembered for having generously shouldered its grave responsibilities.

169: Recording

In a culture paradoxically suffering from anonymity and at the same time obsessed with the details of other people’s lives, shamelessly given over to morbid curiosity, the Church must look more closely and sympathetically at others whenever necessary. 

In our world, ordained ministers and other pastoral workers can make present the fragrance of Christ’s closeness and his personal gaze. The Church will have to initiate everyone – priests, religious and laity – into this “art of accompaniment” which teaches us to remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other.

 The pace of this accompaniment must be steady and reassuring, reflecting our closeness and our compassionate gaze which also heals, liberates and encourages growth in the Christian life.

Yesterday at Lai Chi Kok reception centre as I gave out copies of HK's Chinese and English Catholic newspapers, I thought back many decades to when I delivered newspapers from my bike as a 14 year old in Australia. Still a "paper boy"!

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, Saturday,  please bless the people of Central & North America

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 1st of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Anhui

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 1st of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Congo

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

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)

        
Letters from inmates in HK prisons:

Letter from a Bolivian woman sentenced to 10 years in prison in HK for drug trafficking. Her day in court ...sadness, loneliness..."I felt like an animal". Here (Sep 25)

Letter from a 21 year old South African woman facing 9 years in prison in HK for drug trafficking. Here (Sep 23)

Letter from a young Colombian man in prison in HK for drug trafficking - warning about the long sentences in HK. Here (Sep 26)

 Letter from a Zambian woman in prison in HK for drug trafficking - after being tricked by a Nigerian man called "Emeka" and a Zambian woman named "Mercy Zulu." Here (Sep 19a)

Make no mistake about it: this is a war: a war on marriage and family, a war on biology and reality, a war on faith and freedom, but above all, a war on our vulnerable children. No civilised society can just sit back as we feed our helpless children to the devouring jaws of the militants.

Instead we need to engage the militants head on with compassionate yet firm truth. And that is just what you will find in this very helpful volume. Get it, read it, use it, and take a stand for our beleaguered children.

MARRIAGE BOOK BANNED BY PRINTER - MELBOURNE LAUNCH LAST NIGHT 

Baruch 1-2

The message of Baruch, written in Babylon for the exiles living there, and sent to Jerusalem for the people still there:

Let us pray that our genuine service for the king of Babylon
will win his favor and protection.

To us belongs a look of shame, because we have not listened to the message of the Lord our God.

Lord, please listen to our prayer.
Rescue us from exile and humiliation.

Dear God, please help all exiles return to their homeland

Psalms 52-60

Lord, I will tell everyone about how good you are. You are our Creator. Everyone should love you.

Thank you for so often rescuing me from trouble. You uphold my life.

Sometimes I have so many troubles and cares that I can't get to sleep.

Sometimes I wish I was a bird 
and could fly away to a safe place.

When I fear, I will trust in you, in you whose word I praise.

My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready. I will sing, I will sing your praise.

Each morning I will sing of your strength, and each morning acclaim your love.

O God, please help me to praise and love you every day

Recording  

Revelation 2.1-4

The Son of Man gave me this message for the church in Ephesus:

"I know all about you. I know how much you have suffered for me.

But your love has grown cold. 
Repent, and revive your original love"

Jesus, keep my love for you strong. Don't let it grow cold

Recording

Today's Gospel:

Matthew 27.57-66

Joseph from Arimathaea was a rich man who had become a disciple of Jesus. After Jesus died on Friday, he asked Governor Pilate for Jesus' body.

Joseph wrapped the body in a clean burial cloth and put it in his own new tomb in a rock cave. He then put a large stone at the cave's entrance.

The next day, Saturday,  the religious leaders went to Pilate and said "This imposter said he would rise from the dead after 3 days. Therefore you should secure the tomb in case his disciples steal the body and say he has risen from the dead".

Pilate gave them a guard and told them to secure the tomb. The guards took up their position at the tomb and seals were put on the entrance stone.

Lord Jesus, by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free. You are the Savior of the world.

Recording  

Love can grow lukewarm ....then cold... as cold as a dead body ..... dead love. Why does love decrease? The apostles' love for Jesus evaporated in the face of danger. It was left to a non-apostle to arrange Jesus' burial (Gospel). The Jews love for God (Baruch) and that of some early Christians (Revelation) had grown cold through neglect and disobedience. The psalmist (Psalms 52-60) shows how to keep love for God strong: stay faithful to prayer and praise, especially in time of danger. And .... dead love can be brought back to life by him whose dead body came back to life!

George 
Monbiot

Meanwhile Australia is developing new coal mines????
What Lies Beneath

It’s a simple choice: stop all fossil fuel prospecting, or break the Paris agreement on climate change.

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

174: Recording

“Mothers are the strongest antidote to the spread of self-centred individualism…It is they who testify to the beauty of life”.

(English text of 174 in official document repeats end of 173...a mistake?)

Mexico shaken after three priests killed within a week

164b: Recording

Yet the same ingenuity which has brought about enormous technological progress has so far proved incapable of finding effective ways of dealing with grave environmental and social problems worldwide. 

A global consensus is essential for confronting the deeper problems, which cannot be resolved by unilateral actions on the part of individual countries. 

Such a consensus could lead, for example, to planning a sustainable and diversified agriculture, developing renewable and less polluting forms of energy, encouraging a more efficient use of energy, promoting a better management of marine and forest resources, and ensuring universal access to drinking water.

Pope's message of reconciliation to loom large in Georgia, Azerbaijan

This makes Azerbaijan the country with the smallest Catholic community Francis has visited to date. It has, quite literally, less than 300 people. According to Google flights, it would be cheaper to fly every Catholic Azerbaijani to Rome ($118,872 for a return flight) than flying the pope to them ($141,655, based on what journalists flying with him are paying)

168: Recording

As for the moral component of catechesis, which promotes growth in fidelity to the Gospel way of life, it is helpful to stress again and again the attractiveness and the ideal of a life of wisdom, self-fulfilment and enrichment. 

In the light of that positive message, our rejection of the evils which endanger that life can be better understood.

Rather than experts in dire predictions, dour judges bent on rooting out every threat and deviation, we should appear as joyful messengers of challenging proposals, guardians of the goodness and beauty which shine forth in a life of fidelity to the Gospel.

10 years ago today

2006-09-30 & 10-01 Guangzhou:  hospital, cathedral, McDonald's, Metro

After a long day at the desk yesterday, I went out of the house for the first time at 5pm ....and shared a meal in a small canteen with three poor people....stopping at the Jockey Club to buy a Mark 6 (lottery) ticket ...with two numbers nominated by each guest...in the hope of having a centre for homeless people some day - Please God!

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 30th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Shanghai & Tianjin

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 30th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Haiti

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)

 

Chinese influence peddling 'challenging fundamentals' of Australia, former diplomat says

Letter from a South African woman in prison in HK for drug trafficking- Here (Sep 24)

A modern hospital wings into HK

The new mobile hospital belongs to Orbis, the New York-based charity which fights to prevent blindness worldwide. This is the third plane that the charity operates and it took six years for this MD-10 to be refurbished with the latest gadgets.

Professor calls-out queer theory program in schools

Studies show that many teenagers experience some degree of same-sex attraction, but in most cases this resolves into heterosexual orientation in adulthood. Knowing this might save teenagers a lot of worry.

Readings for Feast of the angels
Michael, Gabriel, Raphael

Tobit 12 (Raphael): 

When Tobit's banquet was finished, Tobit wanted to thank Raphael for all his help.

Only then did Raphael tell Tobit and Tobias that he was an angel sent by God to help them.

"I am Raphael, one of the 7 angels who stand ever ready to enter the presence of the glory of the Lord.

Never tire of giving God thanks.
And never tire of helping the poor."

Raphael farewelled them, rose in the air, and left them. They praised and thanked God for all he had done for them.

My recording of this reading

Psalm 138

I thank you, Lord, with all my heart. You have heard the words of my mouth.

With the angels I will bless you. I will adore you in your holy temple.

I thank you for your faithfulness and love which are far above what we can understand.

On the day I called you answered. You increased the strength of my soul.

All earth's kings shall thank you when they hear the words of your mouth.

They shall sing of the Lord's ways: "How great is the glory of the Lord!"

Recording

Michael

Revelation 12  (Michael):

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought the dragon and his angels

Michael won. Satan and his followers were driven out of heaven

The great dragon, the serpent, known as the Devil or Satan,
was hurled down to earth. His angels were hurled down with him

The dragon began to make war on the children of the Woman - those who obey God and bear witness to Jesus

Recording

Gabriel 

Luke 1 (Gabriel):

In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel
Gabriel to the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary who was betrothed to a man named Joseph

The angel said to her "Mary, Rejoice! You have been greatly blessed by God. You are to conceive and have a son whom you must name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of God"

Mary said to the angel, "How can this happen since I am a virgin?"

The angel replied "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will specially bless you. Know this too: your cousin Elizabeth has, in her old age, conceived a son, and is now in her sixth  month"

"I am the handmaid of the Lord", said Mary, "let what you have said, be done for me".  And the angel left her

Recording

Notice how the names Raphael, Michael and Gabriel all end in "el" which means "God"! 
When we are sick: we can ask Raphael ("Medicine of God") to pray for us. When we are in danger, we can ask Michael ("Who is like God") to pray for us. When we feel powerless and weak, we can ask Gabriel ("God is my strength) to pray for us.

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

173: Recording

The sense of being orphaned that affects many children and young people today is much deeper than we think. 

Nowadays we acknowledge as legitimate and indeed desirable that women wish to study, work, develop their skills and have personal goals.

At the same time, we cannot ignore the need that children have for a mother’s presence, especially in the first months of life. 

Indeed, “the woman stands before the man as a mother, the subject of the new human life that is conceived and develops in her, and from her is born into the world”.

The weakening of this maternal presence with its feminine qualities poses a grave risk to our world.

I certainly value feminism, but one that does not demand uniformity or negate motherhood. 

For the grandeur of women includes all the rights derived from their inalienable human dignity but also from their feminine genius, which is essential to society.

Their specifically feminine abilities - motherhood in particular - also grant duties, because womanhood also entails a specific mission in this world, a mission that society needs to protect and preserve for the good of all.

Certainly, “a society without mothers would be dehumanized, for mothers are always, even in the worst of times, witnesses to tenderness, dedication and moral strength. Mothers often communicate the deepest meaning of religious practice in the first prayers and acts of devotion that their children learn… Without mothers, not only would there be no new faithful, but the faith itself would lose a good part of its simple and profound warmth… Dear mothers: thank you! Thank you for what you are in your family and for what you give to the Church and the world”.

MP3 interview - Recommended
 by a reader in Australia

Gregory Smith's
  survival instinct

Download audio

Gregory is an academic in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Southern Cross University, and has just completed a PhD.

For much of his adulthood he was homeless; and by his own admission, a 'do not approach' figure.

For ten years he lived as a hermit in a forest in northern NSW, catching his own food.

After decades of life on the margins, he now has a place of his own; and is a popular teacher.

Gregory's childhood, in and out of orphanages, boys' homes and youth detention centres, made getting a foothold in regular society a massive challenge.

164a: Recording 

Beginning in the middle of the last century and overcoming many difficulties, there has been a growing conviction that our planet is a homeland and that humanity is one people living in a common home.

An interdependent world not only makes us more conscious of the negative effects of certain lifestyles and models of production and consumption which affect us all; more importantly, it motivates us to ensure that solutions are proposed from a global perspective, and not simply to defend the interests of a few countries.

Interdependence obliges us to think of one world with a common plan.

167b: Recording

 If, as Saint Augustine says, we love only that which is beautiful, the incarnate Son, as the revelation of infinite beauty, is supremely lovable and draws us to himself with bonds of love. 

So a formation in the via pulchritudinis ought to be part of our effort to pass on the faith. Each particular Church should encourage the use of the arts in evangelization, building on the treasures of the past but also drawing upon the wide variety of contemporary expressions so as to transmit the faith in a new “language of parables”.

We must be bold enough to discover new signs and new symbols, new flesh to embody and communicate the word, and different forms of beauty which are valued in different cultural settings, including those unconventional modes of beauty which may mean little to the evangelizers, yet prove particularly attractive for others.

Little boy to mother: today at school I was given a role in the school play about a family. I'm the father.
Mother: tomorrow you tell the teacher I'm not happy. I want you to be given a speaking part

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 29th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Chongqing

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 29th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Mauritania

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)

Two young Malaysian men are now in prison in Hong Kong on drug trafficking charges

The stories of Adam and Noah are Here (Story 3 and Story 4)

Letter from a South African woman in prison in HK for drug trafficking. Here (Sep 19)

  

Letter from an Indonesian woman in prison in Hong Kong - another vulnerable woman caught in a "set up". Here (Sep 20)

Chris McDonnell   (UK blogger)

The recall of memory

Memory is a strange experience and often as we grow older, even though our short term memory is not wonderful, our long term memory of earlier years remains strong

Lamentations 1-5

The roads to Zion are in mourning.
No one comes to her festivals now.

Jerusalem is a captured city, a city of ruins.

All you who pass this way, look and see. Is there any sorrow like mine?

My eyes are wasted away from crying as I see children dying of starvation.

Yet deep in my heart there is hope that the Lord will rescue us from this calamity which our sins have caused.

The favors of the Lord are not just something of the past. His kindness is for the present, even in times of despair.

Every morning there are signs of his kindness, and so I will continue to hope in him for help.

Lord, forgive us for abandoning you. Do not abandon us.

Lord, especially when I'm in trouble, please help me to keep trusting in you for help

Psalm 51

Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness, and cleanse me of my sin.

My offences truly I know them.
What is evil in your sight I have done.

But in my defence please don't forget that sinfulness is part of the human condition, part of our DNA.

A pure heart create for me, O God. Put a steadfast spirit within me.

Give me again the joy of your help. With a spirit of fervor sustain me.

Lord,  you will not spurn a humbled, contrite heart

Recording  

Revelation 1.9-17

I, John, share your sufferings. I was on the island of Patmos, imprisoned for having preached about Jesus

One Sunday the Spirit possessed me. I heard a voice shouting
"Write down all you see, and send it to the seven churches of
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea"

I turned to see who had spoken to me, and I saw Jesus, full of glory. His face was like the sun shining with all its force

He said to me "Do not be afraid. It is I, the First and the Last. I am the Living One"

Jesus, Living One, we praise and adore you, Lord

Recording 

Matthew 27.45-54

Jesus was put on the cross about 9am.

From about noon until 3pm there was darkness over all the land.

About 3pm Jesus cried out the words of Psalm 22: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

A little while later he again cried out in a loud voice.

Then he died.

At that moment the holy curtain in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom,  and there was a violent earthquake.

The Roman soldiers were terrified. Their leader called out "Truly this was a son of God".

Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for the salvation of the world

Recording 

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

172: Recording

“Children, once born, begin to receive, along with nourishment and care, the spiritual gift of knowing with certainty that they are loved. 

This love is shown to them through the gift of their personal name, the sharing of language, looks of love and the brightness of a smile.

In this way, they learn that the beauty of human relationships touches our soul, seeks our freedom, accepts the difference of others, recognizes and respects them as a partner in dialogue… Such is love, and it contains a spark of God’s love!”

Every child has a right to receive love from a mother and a father; both are necessary for a child’s integral and harmonious development.

As the Australian Bishops have observed, each of the spouses “contributes in a distinct way to the upbringing of a child. Respecting a child’s dignity means affirming his or her need and natural right to have a mother and a father”.

We are speaking not simply of the love of father and mother as individuals, but also of their mutual love, perceived as the source of one’s life and the solid foundation of the family. Without this, a child could become a mere plaything.

Husband and wife, father and mother, both “cooperate with the love of God the Creator, and are, in a certain sense, his interpreters”. They show their children the maternal and paternal face of the Lord. Together they teach the value of reciprocity, of respect for differences and of being able to give and take. If for some inevitable reason one parent should be lacking, it is important to compensate for this loss, for the sake of the child’s healthy growth to maturity.

Taiwan attacks HK over string of visa denials 

163: Recording 

Pope on road Friday

167a: Recording

This has nothing to do with fostering an aesthetic relativism which would downplay the inseparable bond between truth, goodness and beauty, but rather a renewed esteem for beauty as a means of touching the human heart and enabling the truth and goodness of the Risen Christ to radiate within it.

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, Wednesday,  please bless the people of East Asia

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 28th of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Beijing

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 28th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Lesotho

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)