European, US and Australian lawyers call for China to end rights crackdown

My article in today's Ming Pao newspaper with the topic: 
Chinese & Western medicine  ... & HK "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 

Protesters claim they were paid to attend pro-Beijing rally in support of China’s ruling on oath row

Video of Pope visiting apartment with seven ex-priests, now married, and their families

Report: Mercy Friday Visit

Genesis 16

Abraham and his wife Sarah had been married many years but they did not have any children.

So Sarah said to Abraham, "Take my slave Hagar and have children by her."

When Hagar bore a son, Sarah was jealous and treated Hagar badly.

Hagar ran away from home, but God said to her "Go back to your mistress and submit to her; I will bless all your descendants."

Dear God, please help childless couples to have a baby

Psalm 105

Give thanks to the Lord, make known his deeds among all the peoples.

O sing to him, sing his praise. Tell all his wonderful works.

Be proud of his holy name. Let hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.

Consider the Lord and his strength. Constantly seek his face.

Never forget how the Lord has helped us in the past, how he has protected Israel from its beginning till now.

Dear God, please help me understand how you have been loving and protecting me since the beginning of my life

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

Acts 2.1-4

About ten days after Jesus' ascension to heaven was the Feast of Pentecost. Jesus' 12 apostles, his mother, several other women, and his brothers were together in one room

Suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind. Tongues of fire appeared and came to rest on the head of each of them

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages

Come Holy Spirit, fall afresh on me. Fall afresh on our world

Recording  

 Mark 9.33-35

One day Jesus heard his disciples arguing about which one of them was the most important

So he said to them "If you want to be No. 1, you must become No. 1,000 and a servant of everyone else"

Jesus, give the world leaders who care more about their people
than about themselves

Recording 

USA - Trump; Philippines - Duterte. 
The world has a leadership crisis.
Which country has a good leader? Not an easy question to answer.
Formula for a good leader - today's reading from Mark

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

220: Recording

This process occurs in various stages that call for generosity and sacrifice.

The first powerful feelings of attraction give way to the realization that the other is now a part of my life.

The pleasure of belonging to one another leads to seeing life as a common project, putting the other’s happiness ahead of my own, and realizing with joy that this marriage enriches society.

As love matures, it also learns to “negotiate”. 

Far from anything selfish or calculating, such negotiation is an exercise of mutual love, an interplay of give and take, for the good of the family. 

At each new stage of married life, there is a need to sit down and renegotiate agreements, so that there will be no winners and losers, but rather two winners. 

In the home, decisions cannot be made unilaterally, since each spouse shares responsibility for the family; yet each home is unique and each marriage will find an arrangement that works best.

210: Recording

Environmental education has broadened its goals. Whereas in the beginning it was mainly centred on scientific information, consciousness-raising and the prevention of environmental risks, it tends now to include a critique of the “myths” of a modernity grounded in a utilitarian mindset (individualism, unlimited progress, competition, consumerism, the unregulated market).

It seeks also to restore the various levels of ecological equilibrium, establishing harmony within ourselves, with others, with nature and other living creatures, and with God. 

Environmental education should facilitate making the leap towards the transcendent which gives ecological ethics its deepest meaning.

It needs educators capable of developing an ethics of ecology, and helping people, through effective pedagogy, to grow in solidarity, responsibility and compassionate care.

199b: Recording 

  True love is always contemplative, and permits us to serve the other not out of necessity or vanity, but rather because he or she is beautiful above and beyond mere appearances: “The love by which we find others pleasing leads us to offer them something freely”.

 The poor person, when loved, “is esteemed as of great value”, and this is what makes the authentic option for the poor differ from any other ideology, from any attempt to exploit the poor for one’s own personal or political interest.

 Only on the basis of this real and sincere closeness can we properly accompany the poor on their path of liberation. Only this will ensure that “in every Christian community the poor feel at home. Would not this approach be the greatest and most effective presentation of the good news of the kingdom?”

 Without the preferential option for the poor, “the proclamation of the Gospel, which is itself the prime form of charity, risks being misunderstood or submerged by the ocean of words which daily engulfs us in today’s society of mass communications”.

Yesterday, using my laptop at a priests' in-service day, I couldn't get my wired (as distinct from wireless) mouse to work. I tried all three USB plugs. I used Google to check possible solutions. Then I discovered: my mouse will not work on the glass top of a desk....it needs paper or some other soft base! 

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 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 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

Long letter from a Filipina in detention in HK, facing a charge of drug trafficking - how she was tricked by Nora Noora. Here (Sep 10) 

A moving letter from a white South African man in HK for drug trafficking - after being recruited by Nigerians in South Africa. He was due to deliver to "Nonso" in HK.  Here (Nov 1)

In January 2017 I'm due to be in Africa again - visiting families of inmates in HK, doing publicity about the anti-drug campaign and lobbying for prisoner transfer agreements. This time: South Africa (Johannesburg), Lesotho (Maresu) and Zambia (Lusaka). 

Genesis 14-15

In the land of Canaan there were many kings. Sometimes they went to war against each other.

Melchizedek, king of Salem, was also a priest of God. Abraham gave Melchizedek 10% of all his possessions. Melchizedek gave Abraham bread and wine.

Melchizedek asked God to give Abraham a special blessing.

God said to Abraham, "This land of Canaan is yours;  I give it to you and your descendants."
 
Dear God, please help all the kings and leaders in the world to be friends

My recording of this reading

Psalm 104 (a)

Bless the Lord, my soul!
Lord God, how great you are.

You make the clouds your chariot. You walk on the wings of the wind.

You make springs gush forth in the valleys. They give drink to all the animals of the field.

You make grass grow for the cattle and plants to provide food for people.

You give us wine to cheer our hearts and oil to make our faces shine.

You made the moon to mark the months. The sun knows the time for its setting.

Recording 

Psalm 104 (b)

How many are your works, O Lord. In wisdom you have made them all.

The earth is full of your riches
and the sea is swarming with life.

All things, great and small, look to you for food. You open your hand, they have their fill.

You send forth your spirit, and life is created. You renew the face of the earth.

I will sing to the Lord all my life.
May my thoughts be pleasing to him.

 Bless the Lord, my soul!
Recording 

Mark 9.14-29

A man brought his son to Jesus and pleaded:

"Master, there is a spirit of dumbness in my son. When it takes hold of him, it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and goes rigid"

They brought the boy. As soon as the spirit saw Jesus, it threw the boy into convulsions

Jesus asked the father "How long has this been happening?" He replied "From childhood....please help us!"

Jesus said "Everything is possible if you have faith". The father cried out "Please increase my faith!"

Jesus rebuked the evil spirit: "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you: come out of him and never enter him again"

The spirit came out, but the boy seemed to have died. Jesus took him by the hand and helped him up

Jesus' disciples asked "Why were we unable to expel that spirit?"
Jesus replied "Only prayer can drive out that kind of spirit"

Jesus, please help me pray better, so that I can help other people more

Recording 

Yesterday I watched a video which mentioned that when Adam and Eve, pre-Fall, talked to God, they never needed to ask for anything. They just shared about what was going on ... and praised God for the beauty of the world around them. As in Psalm 104
Good for us also to have more praise in our conversation with God ...just like small children with parents ....not "give me, give me" all the time. At least sometimes a smile and a kiss and a hug!

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

219: Recording

I recall an old saying: still water becomes stagnant and good for nothing. 

If, in the first years of marriage, a couple’s experience of love grows stagnant, it loses the very excitement that should be its propelling force. 

Young love needs to keep dancing towards the future with immense hope. 

Hope is the leaven that, in those first years of engagement and marriage, makes it possible to look beyond arguments, conflicts and problems and to see things in a broader perspective. 

It harnesses our uncertainties and concerns so that growth can take place. 

Hope also bids us live fully in the present, giving our all to the life of the family, for the best way to prepare a solid future is to live well in the present.

208: Recording

We are always capable of going out of ourselves towards the other. Unless we do this, other creatures will not be recognized for their true worth; we are unconcerned about caring for things for the sake of others; we fail to set limits on ourselves in order to avoid the suffering of others or the deterioration of our surroundings.

Disinterested concern for others, and the rejection of every form of self-centeredness and self-absorption, are essential if we truly wish to care for our brothers and sisters and for the natural environment. 

These attitudes also attune us to the moral imperative of assessing the impact of our every action and personal decision on the world around us.

If we can overcome individualism, we will truly be able to develop a different lifestyle and bring about significant changes in society.

199a: Recording

Our commitment does not consist exclusively in activities or programs of promotion and assistance; what the Holy Spirit mobilizes is not an unruly activism, but above all an attentiveness which considers the other “in a certain sense as one with ourselves”.

This loving attentiveness is the beginning of a true concern for their person which inspires me effectively to seek their good. 

This entails appreciating the poor in their goodness, in their experience of life, in their culture, and in their ways of living the faith. 

Wedding speech by father of tractor-driving bride

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 14th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Jilin

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 14th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Ethiopia

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)

 
Last Friday night in Temple Street, there was another "Music Bash" by HK professionals to raise money for the Sunday night gathering for the poor ("Pizza Party") at St Paul's Yau Ma Tei. God bless all kind musicians and helpers and donors! 
Photos Here

Warning: don't watch this if you voted for Donald Trump!  Video

Pope finishes Friday mercy cycle with visit to married ex-priests

Oblate prison ministry in Kenya

In January 2016 I visited the prison in these photos, with Fr Fidele

c.f. Readings for "Sunday 33"

Malachi 3.19-20

The day is coming now, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and the evil-doers will be like stubble.

The day that is coming is going to burn them up, says the Lord of Hosts, leaving them neither root nor stalk.

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will shine out with healing in its rays.


My recording of this reading

c.f. Today's Gospel - "coming in a cloud with great power and glory":

Psalm 98

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Recording 

2 Thessalonians 3.10-16

We gave you a rule when we were with you: not to let anyone have any food if he refused to do any work

Yet we hear that some of you are living in idleness, doing no work themselves but interfering with everyone else's work

In the Lord Jesus Christ, we order and call on such people
to go on quietly working and earning the food that they eat

Never grow tired of doing what is right

May the Lord of peace give you peace always and everywhere

Jesus, don't let me interfere in other people's business

Recording  

Luke 21.3-38

Jesus said to his disciples that Jerusalem would be destroyed and its people scattered throughout the world

He also spoke of how his followers would be persecuted,  and of the end of the world: "The planets will be shaken, nations will be in agony,  bewildered by the force of the oceans. Then they will see me coming in a cloud with great power and glory

To prepare for your own end of earthly life, stay faithful to prayer and goodness. Don't let your heart be coarsened by debauchery, drunkenness and material cares"

In this his final week on earth, Jesus spent the daytime in the Temple, teaching. From early morning the people would gather round him to listen to him. Then he would spend the night on the Mount of Olives

Jesus, help me be faithful to prayer and goodness

Recording  

This year I have been in Hong Kong's High Court many times ....sometimes three or more times a week. For inmates on trial, a sympathetic judge is important (...not all judges are born equal...) and so is a good barrister (...not all barristers born equal...). 
Some day I/we/everyone will be in court ...the Highest of all courts....the Heavenly Court.
Our judge will be Him who died on a Cross. And ...He also will be our ....Barrister, pleading our cause.

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

218: Recording

Another great challenge of marriage preparation is to help couples realize that marriage is not something that happens once for all.

Their union is real and irrevocable, confirmed and consecrated by the sacrament of matrimony. Yet in joining their lives, the spouses assume an active and creative role in a lifelong project. Their gaze now has to be directed to the future that, with the help of God’s grace, they are daily called to build. 

For this very reason, neither spouse can expect the other to be perfect. Each must set aside all illusions and accept the other as he or she actually is: an unfinished product, needing to grow, a work in progress.

A persistently critical attitude towards one’s partner is a sign that marriage was not entered into as a project to be worked on together, with patience, understanding, tolerance and generosity. 

Slowly but surely, love will then give way to constant questioning and criticism, dwelling on each other’s good and bad points, issuing ultimatums and engaging in competition and self-justification. The couple then prove incapable of helping one another to build a mature union. 

This fact needs to be realistically presented to newly married couples from the outset, so that they can grasp that the wedding is “just the beginning”. 

By saying “I do”, they embark on a journey that requires them to overcome all obstacles standing in the way of their reaching the goal. The nuptial blessing that they receive is a grace and an incentive for this journey. They can only benefit from sitting down and talking to one another about how, concretely, they plan to achieve their goal.

This ties in with what is common talk on the grape vine:
 Former Macau prosecutor faces nearly 2,000 charges

207: Recording

The Earth Charter asked us to leave behind a period of self-destruction and make a new start, but we have not as yet developed a universal awareness needed to achieve this.

 Here, I would echo that courageous challenge: “As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning… Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life”.[148]

198b: Recording

This is why I want a Church which is poor and for the poor. They have much to teach us. Not only do they share in the sensus fidei, but in their difficulties they know the suffering Christ. We need to let ourselves be evangelized by them. 

The new evangelization is an invitation to acknowledge the saving power at work in their lives and to put them at the centre of the Church’s pilgrim way. We are called to find Christ in them, to lend our voice to their causes, but also to be their friends, to listen to them, to speak for them and to embrace the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them.

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 13th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Jiangxi

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 13th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Mali

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)

Islam File    The New Translation

"Same-sex marriage" file

Last night in Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei, a group of leading HK professional people - doctors, lawyers, barristers, engineers, architects, dentists - held a "music bash" to raise funds for the Sunday night gathering for the poor at St Paul's, YMT.  I'll try to put last night photos on tomorrow's menu. God bless all the kind people last night!

Genesis 12-13

God said to a man in the land of Haran named Abraham, "Leave your own country and go to a new land I will give you. I will make you into a great nation."

So Abraham and his family  left the land of Haran and moved to the land of Canaan.

God said to Abraham, "I will make your descendants as many
as the number of dust particles on the ground .... an uncountable number."

Even though Abraham and his wife Sarah were old and had no children, Abraham believed God's promise to give them many descendants.

Dear God, please help me to trust you like Abraham

My recording of this reading

Psalm 103

My soul, give thanks to the Lord.
All my being, bless his holy name.

My soul, give thanks to the Lord
and never forget all his blessings.

It is he who forgives all your guilt, who heals every one of your ills.

It is he who fills your life with good things, renewing your youth like an eagle's life.

The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.

As the heavens are high above the earth so strong is his love for those who love him.

As far as the East is from the West, so far does he remove our sins.

As a father has compassion on his children, the Lord has pity on all who love and honor him.

Give thanks to the Lord, all his angels, who heed the voice of his word.

Give thanks to the Lord, everyone and everything. My soul, give thanks to the Lord!

Thank you, Lord, for your love and compassion

Recording  

Acts 1.15-26

During these days, Peter spoke to a group of about 120 disciples:
"As you know, Judas hanged himself after betraying Jesus. We must now choose someone to take Judas' place, someone who has been with us since the time when John was baptizing"

Two men were nominated, Joseph and Matthias. After prayer was offered, Matthias was chosen. He was listed as one of the 12 apostles

Jesus, please protect your church from betrayal and disloyalty

 Recording 

Mark 9.1-8

One day Jesus took his disciples Peter, James and John up a high mountain.

On the mountain Jesus' whole appearance changed. His face shone like the sun. His clothes were as white as snow.

Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with him. Peter said to Jesus "Lord, how good it is for us to be here!"

Then a bright cloud covered them with its shadow. From the cloud came a voice: "This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him."

The disciples bowed to the ground. When they got up, they saw only Jesus in his normal appearance.

Jesus, how good it is to spend time with you

Recording  

Abraham (Genesis) is called "our father in faith". He can also be called the patron of all migrants, the patron of all people who have left their native land to live permanently in another country.

May his intercession also help the millions of people who are following in his footsteps but have not yet reached a new land .... the millions of asylum seekers and refugees who are temporarily stranded in so many parts of the world

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

217: Recording

It is important that marriage be seen as a matter of love, that only those who freely choose and love one another may marry. 

When love is merely physical attraction or a vague affection, spouses become particularly vulnerable once this affection wanes or physical attraction diminishes. 

Given the frequency with which this happens, it is all the more essential that couples be helped during the first years of their married life to enrich and deepen their conscious and free decision to have, hold and love one another for life.

Often the engagement period is not long enough, the decision is precipitated for various reasons and, what is even more problematic, the couple themselves are insufficiently mature. As a result, the newly married couple need to complete a process that should have taken place during their engagement.

206: Recording 

A change in lifestyle could bring healthy pressure to bear on those who wield political, economic and social power. 

This is what consumer movements accomplish by boycotting certain products. They prove successful in changing the way businesses operate, forcing them to consider their environmental footprint and their patterns of production. 

When social pressure affects their earnings, businesses clearly have to find ways to produce differently.

This shows us the great need for a sense of social responsibility on the part of consumers. “Purchasing is always a moral – and not simply economic – act”.[146] 

Today, in a word, “the issue of environmental degradation challenges us to examine our lifestyle”.[147]

198a: Recording

For the Church, the option for the poor is primarily a theological category rather than a cultural, sociological, political or philosophical one.

 God shows the poor “his first mercy”. This divine preference has consequences for the faith life of all Christians, since we are called to have “this mind… which was in Jesus Christ” (Phil 2:5).

 Inspired by this, the Church has made an option for the poor which is understood as a “special form of primacy in the exercise of Christian charity, to which the whole tradition of the Church bears witness”.

 This option – as Benedict XVI has taught – “is implicit in our Christian faith in a God who became poor for us, so as to enrich us with his poverty”. 

10 years ago
 on this day

Yesterday morning I experienced (like most/all of HK) a possible attack on my IP address ...in the form of a false message each time I tried to use Google. Message is here. Problem  lasted a few hours. Report Here.
Not long after the problem finished I received a bogus phone call from "the Chinese Immigration Department" - by which many HK citizens have been deceived into sending money to people  in Mainland China.
Then in the afternoon on my way to the MTR (Metro) for visit to Lai Chi Kok prison,  an elderly female bogus beggar in a wheelchair (she pushes the chair to work each day) was asking for money on a street near the MTR entrance.
Anyone know of a an all-purpose anti-fraud repellant?!

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 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, 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)

Islam File    The New Translation

"Same-sex marriage" file

Memo to Donald Trump:      

You really want to make a difference? Then follow the example of someone who has made a difference: Pope Francis 

Why Pope Francis Is So Effective - 8 Lessons for Every Leader - Inc.com

How Pope Francis Is Changing Our Definition Of Success - Forbes

5 Leadership Lessons You Can Learn From Pope Francis - TIME

Remembrance Day

"Our (national) loyalties have made us easy to manipulate. In the First World War, a few dozen aristocrats sent eight million men to die in the name of nationhood"   

from The Age of Consent by George Monbiot - reviewed Here

Genesis 9-11

Noah's descendants spread to many lands. They started speaking new languages. They discovered how to make bricks.

In one place, Babel,  they tried to build a very high tower. But God was not pleased with them. God scattered the people of Babel to many places.

Dear God, the human family uses so many different languages. Please help us to live peacefully together on this earth

My recording of this reading

Psalm 102

O Lord, listen to my prayer in my distress. Do not hide your face from me.

For my days are vanishing like smoke, my bones burn away like a fire.

I forget to eat my bread. My skin clings to my bones.

All day long my foes revile me.
Those who hate me use my name as a curse.

But you, O Lord, will endure for ever. You will arise and have mercy on Sion.

You will hear the groans of the prisoners and free those condemned to die.

I pray to you: "Do not take me away before my time has come,
you whose days last from age to age.

Lord, please help people who are in great distress 

Recording

Acts 1.12-14

After Jesus went up to heaven from the Mount of Olives, the apostles went back down to Jerusalem, a walk of about half a kilometer

They gathered in an upstairs room which they used as a meeting place. The 11 apostles were Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon and Jude

They spent a long time praying. With them were several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and also Jesus' brothers

Jesus, your apostles' group spent special time in prayer preparing for the coming of the Holy Spirit. I now ask them in heaven to pray that the Holy Spirit will increase his influence in my life

Recording

Mark 8.27-38

One day Jesus asked his disciples
"Who do people say I am?"

The disciples replied "Some say you are one of the famous prophets".

Jesus then asked them "And who do you say I am?"  Peter answered "You are the Christ".

Jesus then explained to them
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  

As a prison chaplain I particularly notice words that refer to prisoners - as in Psalm 102: "Lord, you will hear the groans of the prisoners". 

No doubt America's two million (!) prisoners will be groaning at the election of Donald Trump. The chances of a more humane prison policy are not very high. Lord, let me be proved wrong!

The disaster that we chose
Donald Trump's presidency is a dreadful thing, a self-inflicted wound that America chose. But we cannot despair. There is work to be done.

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

216: Recording

The couple can also meditate on the biblical readings and the meaningfulness of the rings they will exchange and the other signs that are part of the rite. 

Nor would it be good for them to arrive at the wedding without ever having prayed together, one for the other, to seek God’s help in remaining faithful and generous, to ask the Lord together what he wants of them, and to consecrate their love before an image of the Virgin Mary.

Those who help prepare them for marriage should help them experience these moments of prayer that can prove so beneficial. 

“The marriage liturgy is a unique event, which is both a family and a community celebration. The first sign of Jesus was  performed at the wedding feast of Cana. The good wine, resulting from the Lord’s miracle that brought joy to the beginning of a new family, is the new wine of Christ’s covenant with the men and women of every age

… Frequently, the celebrant speaks to a congregation that includes people who seldom participate in the life of the Church, or who are members of other Christian denominations or religious communities. The occasion thus provides a valuable opportunity to proclaim the Gospel of Christ”.

205: Recording

Yet all is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social conditioning. 

We are able to take an honest look at ourselves, to acknowledge our deep dissatisfaction, and to embark on new paths to authentic freedom. 

No system can completely suppress our openness to what is good, true and beautiful, or our God-given ability to respond to his grace at work deep in our hearts. 

I appeal to everyone throughout the world not to forget this dignity which is ours. No one has the right to take it from us.

197: Recording

God’s heart has a special place for the poor, so much so that he himself “became poor” (2 Cor 8:9). The entire history of our redemption is marked by the presence of the poor. Salvation came to us from the “yes” uttered by a lowly maiden from a small town on the fringes of a great empire.

 The Saviour was born in a manger, in the midst of animals, like children of poor families; he was presented at the Temple along with two turtledoves, the offering made by those who could not afford a lamb; he was raised in a home of ordinary workers and worked with his own hands to earn his bread. 

When he began to preach the Kingdom, crowds of the dispossessed followed him, illustrating his words: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor” (Lk 4:18 ).

 He assured those burdened by sorrow and crushed by poverty that God has a special place for them in his heart: “Blessed are you poor, yours is the kingdom of God” (Lk 6:20); he made himself one of them: “I was hungry and you gave me food to eat”, and he taught them that mercy towards all of these is the key to heaven (cf. Mt 25:5ff.). 

Yesterday as I spent 8 hours at Tai Lam women's prison, I had a pleasant surprise around midday as I walked from one building to another and met a man doing likewise: CSD Commissioner Mr. YAU Chi-chiu who stopped for a friendly chat ... and said some most encouraging words about my anti-drug campaign

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 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, 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)

President Trump

I am as worried as anyone else about Donald Trump being President ...another Duterte?... but yesterday I also had a strange feeling: thank goodness it's not President Hillary with her radical liberal agenda.

May Trump have the wisdom and humility to be guided by those  Republican colleagues who believe in basic human, family and ...yes... Christian values

For the past three mornings I've been at the High Court to support inmates from Africa and South America. 

The judiciary and the Rule of Law are the foundation of Hong Kong's society. They are what make HK different from Mainland China, different from Duterte's Philippines and different from so many other places. Vive le difference!

Many people are hoping that Pope Francis will soon announce the beatification of Matteo Ricci. 

Lots of info about Ricci on my website www.RicciCenter.com which is now back on its own website after a short stay at v2.catholic.com 

Genesis 7-9

Noah's family and many animals went into the big boat, the "ark".

Then for about 40 days there was heavy rain which caused a great  flood.  The ark floated on the water.

The people and animals inside the ark were safe but people and animals outside the ark died.

When the rain and flood stopped
Noah and his family and the animals went out of the ark.

God made a special agreement (covenant) with Noah to bless Noah and his family.

God told Noah that the rainbow would be a sign of their agreement.

Dear God, thank you for making the rainbow so beautiful

My recording of this reading

Psalm 101

My song is of mercy and justice.
I sing to you, O Lord.

I will try to walk with blameless heart. I will try to give my attention to what is good, not what is bad.

People who slander others, people of proud looks, these will not be my friends.

People who are good and do good, these will be my friends.

Recording

Acts 1.6-11

On the day he was taken up to heaven, Jesus said to his apostles "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. Then you will be my witnesses in every part of the world"

As he said this, he was lifted up while they watched.

A cloud took him from their sight

Then two angels appeared to them and said "Jesus who has been taken up from you, will come back some day in the same way as you have seen him leave"

Jesus, help me be your witness by the way I think and speak and live

Recording

Mark 8.22-26

In the village of Bethsaida, a blind man was brought to Jesus.
His friends begged Jesus to touch him.

Jesus took the man by the hand and led him outside the town.
Jesus put spittle on the man's eyes and placed his hands on the man's eyes.

"Can you see anything?" asked Jesus. The man was starting to see and replied "I can see people. They look like trees, but they are walking about".

Jesus then placed his hands on the man's eyes again, and he saw clearly. He was healed and could see everything clearly.

Jesus, heal my friend ( ..name ..) who is blind
Recording

Each time we see a rainbow (Genesis) - like this one! let's praise our Creator!

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

215: Recording

The Kenyan Bishops have observed that “many [young people] concentrate on their wedding day and forget the life-long commitment they are about to enter into”.

They need to be encouraged to see the sacrament not as a single moment that then becomes a part of the past and its memories, but rather as a reality that permanently influences the whole of married life.

The procreative meaning of sexuality, the language of the body, and the signs of love shown throughout married life, all become an “uninterrupted continuity of liturgical language” and “conjugal life becomes in a certain sense liturgical”.

204: Recording 

The current global situation engenders a feeling of instability and uncertainty, which in turn becomes “a seedbed for collective selfishness”.[145] 

When people become self-centred and self-enclosed, their greed increases.

The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume. It becomes almost impossible to accept the limits imposed by reality. In this horizon, a genuine sense of the common good also disappears. 

As these attitudes become more widespread, social norms are respected only to the extent that they do not clash with personal needs. 

So our concern cannot be limited merely to the threat of extreme weather events, but must also extend to the catastrophic consequences of social unrest.

Obsession with a consumerist lifestyle, above all when few people are capable of maintaining it, can only lead to violence and mutual destruction.

196: Recording

Sometimes we prove hard of heart and mind; we are forgetful, distracted and carried away by the limitless possibilities for consumption and distraction offered by contemporary society. 

This leads to a kind of alienation at every level, for “a society becomes alienated when its forms of social organization, production and consumption make it more difficult to offer the gift of self and to establish solidarity between people”.

10 years ago today

"The shift was profound, as mainstream media organizations scrambled to catch the bus that had just run them over them" - the first sentence in final article at this link. 
Bottom line: media is out of touch with majority of people. 

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 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-Qaeda

Letters from (mainly African) inmates in Hong Kong prisons - and other drug trafficking items:   2016

This website's Tanzania File
(stopping Africans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from Tanzanian inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

This website's HK Asylum Seekers' File
(stopping South Asians from being "people smuggled" to HK)

Letter from a Ugandan inmate in prison in HK for drug trafficking. Here (Oct 24)

Letter from a Kenyan inmate in prison in HK prison for drug trafficking. Here (Oct 25)

Hong Kong’s legal sector stages rare ‘silent protest’ against interference from Beijing

New York Times:
Hong Kong Elected 2 Separatists. China Took Drastic Action

George Monbiot:

Talking Cure


Only by crossing social boundaries and coming together can we resist the forces that threaten to crush us

Chris McDonnell   (UK blogger)

Sorry isn't' simply a word

We live in a time when saying sorry for past events is not uncommon

Genesis 5-6

Among Adam and Eve's descendants were Seth, Enosh, Kenan and Enoch. Enoch was a special friend of God. Enoch walked with God.

Another good man who walked with God was Noah. In Noah's time, most people had forgotten God. Most people did bad things. So God decided to cleanse the earth by a great flood.

To save Noah and his family from the flood, God got Noah to build a huge boat for his family
and for two animals of every kind.

Even though most people forgot God, Noah believed in God and trusted God.

Dear God, please help me to remember you, to walk with you

Psalm 100

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing for joy.

Know that he, the Lord, is God. He made us, we belong to him.
We are his people, the sheep of his flock.

Go within his gates, giving thanks. Enter his temple with songs of praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.

Indeed, how good is the Lord,
eternal his merciful love. He is faithful from age to age.

Dear Lord, please help us to serve you with gladness

Recording   

Acts 1.1-5

Dear Friend of God, in my first book (the Gospel of Luke) I wrote about everything Jesus did until the day he was taken up to heaven

For 40 days after his death, he appeared to his apostles many times, and taught them about the kingdom of God

He told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for what the Father had promised: "You will soon be baptized with the Holy Spirit"

Jesus, please baptize me with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, increase your influence in my life

Recording 

Mark 7.31-37

Jesus traveled through the area south of the Sea of Galilee.
A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him.

Jesus took the man aside in private, away from the crowd.
He put his fingers into the man's ears and put spittle on his tongue.

Then he prayed and said "Be opened". The man's ears were opened and his speech became normal.

The people said "He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak".

Jesus,  heal (..name..) who is "deaf and dumb"

Recording 

Enoch and Noah "walked with God" (Genesis). What a lovely way of describing friendship with God.
 
An old song, sung by ex-inmate Johnny Cash: 

Just a Closer Walk with Thee

Joan Chittister: US election's very essence was indecency

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

214: Recording

At times, the couple does not grasp the theological and spiritual import of the words of consent, which illuminate the meaning of all the signs that follow.

It needs to be stressed that these words cannot be reduced to the present; they involve a totality that includes the future: “until death do us part”. 

The content of the words of consent makes it clear that “freedom and fidelity are not opposed to one another; rather, they are mutually supportive, both in inter-personal and social relationships. 

Indeed, let us consider the damage caused, in our culture of global communication, by the escalation of unkept promises… Honouring one’s word, fidelity to one’s promises: these are things that cannot be bought and sold. They cannot be compelled by force or maintained without sacrifice”.

Bishop Long (who arrived by boat as a refugee):
'I urge Australians to reject these cruel measures'
Bishop Vincent Long has condemned the Federal government's decision to ban those who arrived by boat from ever applying for a visa.

203: Recording 

Since the market tends to promote extreme consumerism in an effort to sell its products, people can easily get caught up in a whirlwind of needless buying and spending.

Compulsive consumerism is one example of how the techno-economic paradigm affects individuals.... This paradigm leads people to believe that they are free as long as they have the supposed freedom to consume. 

But those really free are the minority who wield economic and financial power. 

Amid this confusion, postmodern humanity has not yet achieved a new self-awareness capable of offering guidance and direction, and this lack of identity is a source of anxiety. We have too many means and only a few insubstantial ends.

195: Recording

When Saint Paul approached the apostles in Jerusalem to discern whether he was “running or had run in vain”, the key criterion of authenticity which they presented was that he should not forget the poor.

This important principle, namely that the Pauline communities should not succumb to the self-centred lifestyle of the pagans, remains timely today, when a new self-centred paganism is growing. 

We may not always be able to reflect adequately the beauty of the Gospel, but there is one sign which we should never lack: the option for those who are least, those whom society discards 

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 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 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)