Wednesday November 30

Pope (223, below):   

My Africa trips:
2015 - Tanzania, Malawi
2016 - Kenya, Uganda

The Book  Blog
4 readings + recordings

Comments/reflections welcome here
Readings are from Simple Bible

Full English text

Full Chinese text

Pope's letter on climate change:
Laudato Si     我主應受讚美 

Tuesday November 29

Pope (223, below):  So they are able to shed unsatisfied needs, reducing their obsessiveness and weariness. Even living on little, they can live a lot, above all when they cultivate other pleasures and find satisfaction in fraternal encounters, in service, in developing their gifts, in music and art, in contact with nature, in prayer. 

 

South Sudanese parents in Australia sending kids to Africa to avoid crime

My article in today's Ming Pao newspaper with the topic  
Available: www.ecohome.com !
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 

Yesterday a kind legal friend and I attended a meeting with representatives of the HK Correctional Services Department and the HK Security Bureau, discussing how the government might get involved in my anti-drug campaign. A good "first meeting". 

I am grateful that the campaign has done a lot of good: if not for the campaign, at least another 100 drug mules, mainly from Africa, would be in prison in HK, and at least another 50kg of cocaine would be circulating on the streets of HK.

But to be honest, the campaign has grown to the point where it is becoming too much for one person. A team of some sort needs to become involved ...and please God ...eventually take over. Ideally there needs to be one person for each of the special websites that are now part of the campaign. 

Genesis 30

Leah gave birth to four sons
 - Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah.

Rachel had no children and was jealous of her sister Leah.

Rachel gave her servant girl Bilhah to Jacob and Bilhah gave birth to two sons - Dan and Naphtali.

Leah then gave her servant girl Zilpah to Jacob and Zilpah gave birth to two sons - Gad and Asher.

Leah herself had two more sons - Issachar and Zebulun and a daughter - Dinah.

Finally Rachel had a baby, a son whom she named Joseph.

For many long years Jacob worked for Laban but Laban would not let Jacob return to his own land.

Dear God, please bless everyone in my family

Psalm 118

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love has no end.

Let the sons of Israel say: "His love has no end."

Let those who honor the Lord say: "His love has no end."

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.

I was falling, falling, falling, but the Lord was my helper.

The Lord is my strength and my song. He is my saviour.

The Lord's right hand has triumphed. His right hand has raised me up.

I shall not die, I shall live and recount all his deeds.

The stone which the builders rejected has become the corner stone.

This is the work of the Lord,
a marvel in our eyes.

This day was made by the Lord.
We rejoice and are glad.

Lord, we give thanks to you, for you are good. Your love has no end

Recording 

Acts 5.12-16

All the believers used to meet regularly in an area of the Temple. Their numbers kept on increasing

So many miracles kept happening that sick people were laid on beds on the street,  in the hope that at least Peter's shadow would cover them as he walked past

People came from the towns near Jerusalem, bringing their sick,
and all of the sick were healed

Jesus, let more healings take place in our day

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

 Mark 12.38-40

Jesus told the people to beware of religious leaders
- who like to walk about in long robes
- who like to be greeted obsequiously in the market places
- who like to take the places of honor at prayer halls and banquets
- who steal the property of widows, while making a show of lengthy prayers

Jesus, help religious leaders to be good people

Recording 

In today's Gospel, Jesus warns people to beware of bad leaders ...who can be described as wolves pretending to be sheep. 

My final prayer as I go to sleep each night: "Dear Jesus, please give the world better leaders ...leaders who live simply, who care for the poor, who care for the planet, who care for justice and peace" ....and for this intention I pray "The Lord's Prayer" ...often asleep before I finish

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

234: Recording

Crises need to be faced together.

This is hard, since people sometimes withdraw in order to avoid saying what they feel; they retreat into a craven silence.

At these times, it becomes all the more important to create opportunities for speaking heart to heart. 

Unless a couple learns to do this, they will find it harder and harder as time passes. 

Communication is an art learned in moments of peace in order to be practised in moments of difficulty.

Spouses need help in discovering their deepest thoughts and feelings and expressing them.

Like childbirth, this is a painful process that brings forth a new treasure. 

The answers given to the pre-synodal consultation showed that most people in difficult or critical situations do not seek pastoral assistance, since they do not find it sympathetic, realistic or concerned for individual cases. This should spur us to try to approach marriage crises with greater sensitivity to their burden of hurt and anxiety.

223: Recording

Such simplicity, when lived freely and consciously, is liberating. It is not a lesser life or one lived with less intensity. On the contrary, it is a way of living life to the full. 

In reality, those who enjoy more and live better each moment are those who have given up dipping here and there, always on the look-out for what they do not have. They experience what it means to appreciate each person and each thing, learning familiarity with the simplest things and how to enjoy them.

So they are able to shed unsatisfied needs, reducing their obsessiveness and weariness. Even living on little, they can live a lot, above all when they cultivate other pleasures and find satisfaction in fraternal encounters, in service, in developing their gifts, in music and art, in contact with nature, in prayer. 

Happiness means knowing how to limit some needs which only diminish us, and being open to the many different possibilities which life can offer.

212: Recording 

 Doubly poor are those women who endure situations of exclusion, mistreatment and violence, since they are frequently less able to defend their rights.

 Even so, we constantly witness among them impressive examples of daily heroism in defending and protecting their vulnerable families.

Late yesterday afternoon I had my monthly haircut ...by a friendly guy from Pakistan who loves cricket. Yesterday he told me he had six children, back in Pakistan ....three sets of twins! First set - a boy and a girl; second and third sets - two boys. Wife maybe has mixed feelings about his holiday trips to Pakistian?

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 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 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)

Monday November 28

Pope (222, below): ... a return to that simplicity which allows us to stop and appreciate the small things

Last night at St Paul's Yau Ma Tei at the weekly gathering for poor I once again had a very sad feeling at the sight of so many guests (about a dozen out of 200) who sleep at McDonald's every night. God bless McD's for their kindness, but this is a scandal in a wealthy place ...I mean a place with a wealthy government. Several of the McD's sleepers are women. I've tried petitioning the government and the Church for a place for the homeless ....even tried buying lottery tickets. Tonight I tried one new approach - see "Smile", below  

How Fidel Castro's faith remained a mystery to the end

When a Brazilian friar met Castro in 1980 the two had a dense conversation about religious freedom in Cuba that led to a bestselling book that helped pave the way for a church-state rapprochement, and eventually, the visit by Pope John Paul II

I'm due to be in Lesotho (one of the seven drought-listed countries) in January please God:

South of continent cries for help as climate change savages maize harvest

Genesis 29

Jacob went to the home of his uncle Laban, in Haran.

Laban had two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Jacob fell in love with Rachel.

Jacob made an agreement with Laban: Jacob would work for Laban for seven years in return for marriage to Rachel.

For Jacob,  the seven years went like a flash because he loved Rachel so dearly.

But Laban forced Jacob to marry both Leah and Rachel and made him work for another seven years as well.

Dear God, please help us to enjoy our work

My recording of this reading

Psalm 117

O Praise the Lord, all you nations. Acclaim him, all you peoples!

Strong is his love for us. He is faithful for ever.

May all the nations love and praise you, Lord

Recording 

Acts 4.32 - 37

The apostles continued to witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power

The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul. They willingly shared everything they had with people who were in need

Joseph was a Temple minister who had been born in Cyprus. He sold a field he owned, and gave the proceeds to the apostles. The apostles called him "Barnabas" ("Son of Encouragement")

Jesus, help me to be more caring and sharing

Recording 

Mark 12.28-30

In Jerusalem a religious leader asked Jesus "Which is the most important commandment?"

Jesus replied "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart. And you must care as much about others as you care about yourself.

These are the two most important commandments. All other commandments  depend on 

 these two."

Recording 

If we take today's Gospel (Mark 12) seriously, it's quite scary!

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

233: Recording

Faced with a crisis, we tend first to react defensively, since we feel that we are losing control, or are somehow at fault, and this makes us uneasy.

We resort to denying the problem, hiding or downplaying it, and hoping that it will go away.

But this does not help; it only makes things worse, wastes energy and delays a solution.

Couples grow apart and lose their ability to communicate.

When problems are not dealt with, communication is the first thing to go.

Little by little, the “the person I love” slowly becomes “my mate”, then just “the father or mother of my children”, and finally a stranger.

222: Recording

Christian spirituality proposes an alternative understanding of the quality of life, and encourages a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle, one capable of deep enjoyment free of the obsession with consumption.

 We need to take up an ancient lesson, found in different religious traditions and also in the Bible. It is the conviction that “less is more”. A constant flood of new consumer goods can baffle the heart and prevent us from cherishing each thing and each moment. To be serenely present to each reality, however small it may be, opens us to much greater horizons of understanding and personal fulfilment.

 Christian spirituality proposes a growth marked by moderation and the capacity to be happy with little. It is a return to that simplicity which allows us to stop and appreciate the small things, to be grateful for the opportunities which life affords us, to be spiritually detached from what we possess, and not to succumb to sadness for what we lack. This implies avoiding the dynamic of dominion and the mere accumulation of pleasures

211: Recording

I have always been distressed at the lot of those who are victims of various kinds of human trafficking. How I wish that all of us would hear God’s cry: “Where is your brother?” (Gen 4:9).

 Where is your brother or sister who is enslaved? Where is the brother and sister whom you are killing each day in clandestine warehouses, in rings of prostitution, in children used for begging, in exploiting undocumented labour? 

Let us not look the other way. There is greater complicity than we think. The issue involves everyone! This infamous network of crime is now well established in our cities, and many people have blood on their hands as a result of their comfortable and silent complicity.

10 years ago today

2006-11-28 Happy Birthday Marco Polo teacher Elaine; Yung Guo Hing's little finger; thank you HK Rosa C & HK friends for uniforms

As I was leaving St Paul's YMT last night, I stopped at the grotto near the main entrance - with two homeless people who sleep at McDonald's, a (gay) man and a woman. And I said to the Lady in the grotto: "Dearest Mother, you once told your Boy about people who had no wine. Please now tell him about these poor folk who have nowhere to sleep". 

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 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 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)

Beautiful YouTube song - with text:  O Come, Emmanuel

My ideas for Advent Liturgy

Video commentaries for Advent:

First Sunday of Advent

Chinese commentary

Forget history lessons, in age of Facebook here’s why Hong Kong’s young are turning their backs on Beijing

What’s making Hong Kong school students talk about independence from China?

How China blocks independent candidates in its ‘democratic’ elections

c.f. Readings for "Advent 1"

Isaiah 2

In the days to come, the mountain of the Lord's Temple
will be specially blessed.

All the nations will come to it and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, that he may teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths".

When they learn the ways of the Lord, then the nations will hammer their swords into ploughshares, their spears into sickles.

Nation will not lift sword against nation, there will be no more training for war.

O House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

Lord, please help world leaders do more for peace in our world

My recording of this reading

Psalm 122

I rejoiced when I heard them say
"Let us go to God's house."

And now our feet are standing 
within your gates, O Jerusalem.

For the peace of Jerusalem pray
"Peace be to your homes."

For love of the house of the Lord
I will ask for your good.

Lord, may your peace be in our hearts and homes
Recording 

Romans 13.12-14

Let us stop our bad behavior of the past: drunken orgies, immorality, quarreling, jealousy

Let us live good lives. Let the Lord Jesus protect and help us

Jesus, please help me give up bad behavior

Recording  

Matthew 24.9-44

Jesus spoke to his disciples about the future:

"On account of my name you will be hated, tortured and killed.
But the Good News of the kingdom will spread to every nation before the end of the world.

At the end of the world, the sun and moon will stop shining. Stars will fall from the sky.

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and all peoples will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with power and glory.

He will send his angels with a loud trumpet to gather good people from all parts of the earth.

Therefore you should live a good life, and you will have nothing to fear on your last day."

Jesus, please help me be a good person 

Recording  

Advent begins today .....Christmas countdown has begun ....Christmas: a feast of light ....the Light has come into this dark world...inviting us to live in his light, not in the Devil's darkness....O House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord! (Isaiah)

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

232: Recording

The life of every family is marked by all kinds of crises, yet these are also part of its dramatic beauty.

Couples should be helped to realize that surmounting a crisis need not weaken their relationship; instead, it can improve, settle and mature the wine of their union.

Life together should not diminish but increase their contentment; every new step along the way can help couples find new ways to happiness.

Each crisis becomes an apprenticeship in growing closer together or learning a little more about what it means to be married.

There is no need for couples to resign themselves to an inevitable downward spiral or a tolerable mediocrity. 

On the contrary, when marriage is seen as a challenge that involves overcoming obstacles, each crisis becomes an opportunity to let the wine of their relationship age and improve.

Couples will gain from receiving help in facing crises, meeting challenges and acknowledging them as part of family life.

Experienced and trained couples should be open to offering guidance, so the couples will not be unnerved by these crises or tempted to hasty decisions.

Each crisis has a lesson to teach us; we need to learn how to listen for it with the ear of the heart.

221: Recording

Various convictions of our faith, developed at the beginning of this Encyclical can help us to enrich the meaning of this conversion. 

These include the awareness that each creature reflects something of God and has a message to convey to us, and the security that Christ has taken unto himself this material world and now, risen, is intimately present to each being, surrounding it with his affection and penetrating it with his light. 

Then too, there is the recognition that God created the world, writing into it an order and a dynamism that human beings have no right to ignore. We read in the Gospel that Jesus says of the birds of the air that “not one of them is forgotten before God” (Lk 12:6). How then can we possibly mistreat them or cause them harm?

 I ask all Christians to recognize and to live fully this dimension of their conversion. May the power and the light of the grace we have received also be evident in our relationship to other creatures and to the world around us. In this way, we will help nurture that sublime fraternity with all creation which Saint Francis of Assisi so radiantly embodied.

210: Recording

It is essential to draw near to new forms of poverty and vulnerability, in which we are called to recognize the suffering Christ, even if this appears to bring us no tangible and immediate benefits.

 I think of the homeless, the addicted, refugees, indigenous peoples, the elderly who are increasingly isolated and abandoned, and many others.

 Migrants present a particular challenge for me, since I am the pastor of a Church without frontiers, a Church which considers herself mother to all.

 For this reason, I exhort all countries to a generous openness which, rather than fearing the loss of local identity, will prove capable of creating new forms of cultural synthesis.

 How beautiful are those cities which overcome paralysing mistrust, integrate those who are different and make this very integration a new factor of development! 

How attractive are those cities which, even in their architectural design, are full of spaces which connect, relate and favour the recognition of others!

10 years ago
 today

2006-11-27 Question & Answer time at Keji College, not far from CAS

HK resident on return from trip to another country said he was happily surprised how that other country had "people from all over the world" as officers in the airport immigration section. In fact that other country has had such an "international" policy for all government departments and services for decades. Other country is .... a big island to the West of New Zealand!

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 27th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Tibet

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 27th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Uganda

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 isn't ordinary time'- Spadaro on the Jesuits' historic gathering

The Society now regards itself, in many ways, as lagging behind the pope’s forward thrust and his capacity for change

“I know they are needed, but I have a hard time putting hope in an organizational flowchart" - Pope

Pope:  Drug dependency is ‘a new form of slavery’

The supply of drugs, he said, is an “important part of organized crime, and its supply chain must be rooted out and destroyed”

- these words give me a bit more energy for my anti-drug campaign. Thanks Boss!

This please God will give encouragement to people trying to promote Beijing-Vatican relations:

Trying to normalise relations, Vietnamese leader visits Pope

See the video at this link

During my 10am to 6pm visit to Lo Women's prison yesterday, I came across a group of 30 mothers and babies on a walkabout. A moving sight in more ways than one. 

As my brain reflected on what I had just seen, I gratefully remembered another group of hospital mothers and babies - Here (sorry, not easy to read)

Genesis 28

When Rebecca sent Jacob to Haran, she and Isaac told Jacob to find a wife in Haran.

While Jacob was on his way to Haran, God appeared to him in a dream and said to him "I will keep you safe wherever you go,
and I'll bring you back safely to your own land."

Dear God, please keep us safe wherever we go

My recording of this reading

Psalm 116

I love the Lord for he has heard the cry of my appeal. He turned his ear to me in the day when I called him.

They surrounded me, sorrow, distress and the snares of death.
I was helpless, so the Lord saved me.

Calm down my soul, for the Lord has been good. I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.

How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me? The cup of salvation I will raise to thank the Lord.

O precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful.
Lord, you have loosened my bonds. I am your servant.

Thank you, Lord, for all your goodness to me

Recording  

Acts 5.34-42

One religious leader at the meeting, Gamaliel, asked that the apostles be removed from the room. Then he spoke to the other leaders:

"Men of Israel, be careful how you deal with these people. If this movement of theirs is of human origin, it will die out of its own accord. But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy it. You might even find yourselves fighting against God"

His advice was accepted. The apostles were warned, flogged and released

They left the meeting glad to have had the honor of suffering humiliation for the sake of Jesus. They resumed their daily preaching, in the Temple and in private homes

Jesus, thank you for times of suffering for you

 Recording 

Mark 11.15-19

When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, he went to the Temple.

In the Temple there were money changers and people selling pigeons

Jesus tipped over their tables and drove them out of the Temple.

He said to them "My house is a house of prayer for all the peoples of the world, but you have turned it into a place for robbery"

Jesus, protect  all places of prayer from corruption

Recording  

"O precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful" (Psalm 116).

A beautiful thought from Pope Francis for the time of death:

“When Judgment Day comes we will look at the Lord and say, ‘Lord I have many sins, but I tried to be faithful.’

Hong Kong denied my visa because of my nationality, and I just can’t let it go  (Nepali journalist who has worked for S.C.M.P.)

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

231: Recording

A word should also be said about those whose love, like a fine wine, has come into its own. 

Just as a good wine begins to “breathe” with time, so too the daily experience of fidelity gives married life richness and “body”.

Fidelity has to do with patience and expectation. 

Its joys and sacrifices bear fruit as the years go by and the couple rejoices to see their children’s children.

The love present from the beginning becomes more conscious, settled and mature as the couple discover each other anew day after day, year after year. 

Saint John of the Cross tells us that “old lovers are tried and true”. They “are outwardly no longer afire with powerful emotions and impulses, but now taste the sweetness of the wine of love, well-aged and stored deep within their hearts”.

Such couples have successfully overcome crises and hardships without fleeing from challenges or concealing problems.

220: Recording 

This conversion calls for a number of attitudes which together foster a spirit of generous care, full of tenderness.

 First, it entails gratitude and gratuitousness, a recognition that the world is God’s loving gift, and that we are called quietly to imitate his generosity in self-sacrifice and good works: “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing… and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Mt 6:3-4).

 It also entails a loving awareness that we are not disconnected from the rest of creatures, but joined in a splendid universal communion. As believers, we do not look at the world from without but from within, conscious of the bonds with which the Father has linked us to all beings.

 By developing our individual, God-given capacities, an ecological conversion can inspire us to greater creativity and enthusiasm in resolving the world’s problems and in offering ourselves to God “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable” (Rom 12:1). We do not understand our superiority as a reason for personal glory or irresponsible dominion, but rather as a different capacity which, in its turn, entails a serious responsibility stemming from our faith.

209: Recording

Jesus, the evangelizer par excellence and the Gospel in person, identifies especially with the (disadvantaged).

This reminds us Christians that we are called to care for the vulnerable of the earth. 

But the current model, with its emphasis on success and self-reliance, does not appear to favour an investment in efforts to help the slow, the weak or the less talented to find opportunities in life. 

10 years ago
 on this day

On train home from Lo Wu prison yesterday, I sat next to a man from Africa ...turned out to be a famous footballer in HK.....just like his friend from Nigeria who played for HK ....who I also met ....on the train some years ago. New meaning thereby given to the word "training".

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

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

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

Jackie Pullinger has been a model for me. Over the past 7 years, I've given out many hundreds of copies of her book "'Chasing the Dragon" (Chinese edition) to drug addicts in detention.

Briton’s 50 years of helping Hong Kong addicts beat drugs – and find God

Wikipedia: Jackie Pullinger

Letter in English from a Ugandan man due to be sentenced Dec 7. Here (Nov 21)

Long letter in Portuguese from a Brazilian woman in prison in HK on a drug trafficking charge - describing how she was tricked in San Paulo by a Nigerian man using the name "Prince" to take drugs to HK. Here (Nov 15)

Letter in Portuguese from a Brazilian woman in prison in HK on a drug trafficking charge - how she was tricked/arranged by a Nigerian man in San Paulo. Here (Nov 13)

Heading below is not accurate.
Better would be: St Francis, Pope Francis and Sister Death

Threat of hell is real for not being faithful to God, pope says

“If each of us is faithful to the Lord, when death comes, we will say ‘Come, Sister Death,’ like St. Francis. It won’t frighten us”

Genesis 26 & 27

God blessed and protected Isaac all his life. When Isaac grew old and was nearly blind, he followed the usual custom of giving his final blessing to his sons.

He wanted to bless Esau first, since Esau was his older son. 
But Rebecca and Jacob tricked Isaac.

Jacob dressed in Esau's clothes
and put hairy animal skins on his arms.

Before Esau came home, Jacob asked for Isaac's blessing.

Isaac said "Your voice is that of Jacob, but your arms and scent are those of Esau. Are you really Esau?"

Jacob said "I am." Isaac then gave him his solemn blessing.

When Esau found out what had happened, he was very angry and planned to kill Jacob.

So Rebecca got Jacob to go to Haran until Esau's anger cooled down.

Dear God, please bless everyone in my family

 Recording

Psalms 114 & 115

When Israel came out of Egypt,
Jacob's descendents from an alien people,

Judah became the Lord's temple,
Israel became his kingdom.

Descendents of Israel, trust in the Lord. He is our help and our shield.

To you may the Lord grant increase, to you and all your children.

May you be blessed by the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.

Thank you, Lord, for all your blessings

Recording

Acts 4.23-31

When Peter and John were released, they went to a gathering of apostles and friends and told them everything that had happened

The group then prayed "Master, it is you who made heaven and earth and sea. Please protect us from leaders who threaten us. Help us to proclaim your message with great boldness. Bless us to heal and work miracles through the name of your holy servant Jesus"

As they prayed, the building rocked. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim the word of God boldly

Jesus, by the grace of your Holy Spirit, please help me to proclaim your message boldly

Recording 

Mark 11.1-11

Jesus sat on a donkey colt for the trip down the hill from the Mount of Olives into the city of Jerusalem

Big crowds accompanied Jesus down the hill.

People spread their clothes on the road as a sign of honor.

People cut branches from the trees and waved them singing
"Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest!"

Jesus, may you be warmly welcomed by every place and every person in the world

Recording

For today's world, when Christians are under siege in so many ways and in so many places, the prayer of Acts 4 is a good one to use frequently:

"Master, it is you who made heaven and earth and sea. Please protect us from leaders who threaten us. Help us to proclaim your message with great boldness. Bless us to heal and work miracles through the name of your holy servant Jesus"

Debate - Dr David van Gend and Julie McCrossin (with audio link)

Australian Marriage Forum  President, Dr David van Gend debated former ABC broadcaster and Mardi Gras commentator Julie McCrossin last Tuesday night in Sydney. It was a civil and valuable discussion.

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

230: Recording

It is true that many couples, once married, drop out of the Christian community. 

Often, however, we ourselves do not take advantage of those occasions when they do return, to remind them of the beautiful ideal of Christian marriage and the support that our parishes can offer them. 

I think, for example, of the Baptism and First Holy Communion of their children, or the funerals or weddings of their relatives or friends.

Almost all married couples reappear on these occasions, and we should take greater advantage of this. 

Another way of growing closer is by blessing homes or by bringing a pilgrim image of Our Lady to houses in the neighbourhood; this provides an opportunity for a pastoral conversation about the family’s situation. 

It could also be helpful to ask older married couples to help younger couples in the neighbourhood by visiting them and offering guidance in the early years of marriage.

Given the pace of life today, most couples cannot attend frequent meetings; still, we cannot restrict our pastoral outreach to small and select groups. 

Nowadays, pastoral care for families has to be fundamentally missionary, going out to where people are. We can no longer be like a factory, churning out courses that for the most part are poorly attended.

Recommended 
by a HK reader

He climbed Mount Everest in 1998.
His story - quite an adventurer

219: Recording

Nevertheless, self-improvement on the part of individuals will not by itself remedy the extremely complex situation facing our world today.

Isolated individuals can lose their ability and freedom to escape the utilitarian mindset, and end up prey to an unethical consumerism bereft of social or ecological awareness. 

Social problems must be addressed by community networks and not simply by the sum of individual good deeds.

This task “will make such tremendous demands of man that he could never achieve it by individual initiative or even by the united effort of men bred in an individualistic way. The work of changing the world calls for a union of skills and a unity of achievement that can only grow from quite a different attitude”.[154] The ecological conversion needed to bring about lasting change is also a community conversion.

208: Recording

If anyone feels offended by my words, I would respond that I speak them with affection and with the best of intentions, quite apart from any personal interest or political ideology.

 My words are not those of a foe or an opponent.

 I am interested only in helping those who are in thrall to an individualistic, indifferent and self-centred mentality to be freed from those unworthy chains and to attain a way of living and thinking which is more humane, noble and fruitful, and which will bring dignity to their presence on this earth. 

10 years ago today

2006-11-25 A truly happy day at Marco Polo- children from 4 centers + teams from Zhaoqing Xiangshu and Guangzhou Kissbus. DG!

Barack Obama pardons Thanksgiving turkeys one last time

EU parliament urges ministers to freeze Turkey accession talks

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

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

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

"Same-sex marriage" file

Islam File    The New Translation

Beautiful piece of artwork by a South American woman in prison in HK for drug trafficking. Click to enlarge

Down Syndrome video banned in France moved U.S. archbishop

I know that parents facing a prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome are frightened, and I can’t take away the fear and concern. But I can share with you my own experience of my brother, George, who was born with Down Syndrome.

Joan Chittister

A Thanksgiving Day prayer in a riven land

May the memory of the past great vision of this country give us all the energy and strength it will take to revive that vision again. It is those ideals and that kind of community covenant that dries my own tears.

Genesis 25

After Abraham died, God blessed Abraham's son Isaac.

For a long time Isaac's wife Rebecca could not have children.

Then after Isaac prayed for her,
she had twin boys - Esau and Jacob.

Esau became a hunter. Jacob helped at home.

Isaac favored Esau. Rebecca preferred Jacob.

There was a strong rivalry between the two boys.

Once when Esau came home seriously ill, he agreed to give Jacob his rights as first born son 
in exchange for some soup Jacob had made.

Dear God, please help childless couples to have a baby

My recording of this reading

Psalm 113

Praise, O friends of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord.

May the name of the Lord be blessed both now and for evermore.

From the rising of the sun to its setting praised be the name of the Lord.

Who is like the Lord our God,
above the heavens his glory.

From the dust he lifts up the lowly, to put them in the company of royalty.

To the childless wife he gives a home and gladdens her heart with children.

May the Lord be praised from sunrise to sunset

Recording

Acts 4.13-22

The religious leaders were astonished that two uneducated men like Peter and John could speak so confidently. The leaders also realized that a miracle had taken place: the crippled man was standing next to Peter and John

The leaders gave Peter and John a formal legal warning not to speak in future about Jesus

Peter and John replied "Which is right? To obey you, or obey God? We cannot stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard"

The leaders released the two apostles. They were afraid to punish them since all the people were giving glory to God for the miracle that had happened

Jesus, please help me obey you always

Recording

Mark 10.46-52

As  Jesus was leaving Jericho on his way to Jerusalem, many people followed him along the road

Sitting by the road was a man  who had become blind. His name was Bartimaeus ("son of Timaeus"). When he heard that Jesus was going past, he called out "Son of David, have pity on me"

Some people tried to stop him from calling out, but he shouted even more loudly " Son of David, have pity on me"

Jesus stopped and said to him "What do you want me to do for you?"  He replied "Lord, let me see again"

Jesus said to him "Go, your faith has saved you". Immediately his sight returned, and he followed Jesus along the road

Jesus, please heal my blind friend (.. name ..)

Recording

On this Thanksgiving Day, let's do a little thinking and praying about the many things for which we should be grateful ....between sunrise ....and sunset 

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

229: Recording

Parishes, movements, schools and other Church institutions can help in a variety of ways to support families and help them grow.

These might include: meetings of couples living in the same neighbourhood, brief retreats for couples; talks by experts on concrete issues facing families, marriage counselling, home missionaries who help couples discuss their difficulties and desires, social services dealing with family problems like addiction, infidelity and domestic violence, programs of spiritual growth, workshops for parents with troubled children and family meetings.

The parish office should be prepared to deal helpfully and sensitively with family needs and be able to make referrals, when necessary, to those who can help. 

There is also the contribution made by groups of married couples that provide assistance as part of their commitment to service, prayer, formation and mutual support. Such groups enable couples to be generous, to assist other families and to share the faith; at the same time they strengthen marriages and help them to grow.

218: Recording 

In calling to mind the figure of Saint Francis of Assisi, we come to realize that a healthy relationship with creation is one dimension of overall personal conversion, which entails the recognition of our errors, sins, faults and failures, and leads to heartfelt repentance and desire to change.

 The Australian bishops spoke of the importance of such conversion for achieving reconciliation with creation: “To achieve such reconciliation, we must examine our lives and acknowledge the ways in which we have harmed God’s creation through our actions and our failure to act. We need to experience a conversion, or change of heart”.[153]

207: Recording

Any Church community, if it thinks it can comfortably go its own way without creative concern and effective cooperation in helping the poor to live with dignity, and reaching out to everyone, will also risk breaking down, however much it may talk about social issues or criticize governments.

 It will easily drift into a spiritual worldliness camouflaged by religious practices, unproductive meetings and empty talk

Yesterday I did quite a bit of walking: from Central up to the cathedral, from the cathedral to Tung Wah Hospital (to visit a former policeman who is a dear friend...been bed ridden for several years), from the hospital back to Central. Only one problem - it was raining ...and everyone else on the footpaths had what I had ....an umbrella....so ....plenty of practice at "not being hit and not hitting anyone else"

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 24th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Zambia

And praying for one of the world's poorest countries each day of the month:
On this 24th of the month, Jesus please bless the people of Inner Mongolia

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 Filipina in prison in HK for drug trafficking - how  a well known HK Nigerian Drug Lord "Network" arranged for her to go to Brazil and bring back to HK a parcel containing 3.7kg of cocaine. Letter is Here (at June 15 ... a delayed posting because of safety concerns for her family)

This is good! 

Gerard O'Connell

The Ecumenical Pope

Pope Francis did not start working with people of other faiths when he became pope. His life contains a long history of ecumenical ministry.

Any link between this:

Under 16 and working 16 hours a day ... clothes factories recruit  child labour from across China

and this?

Trump vows to withdraw from Trans-Pacific Partnership ‘on day one’

Chris McDonnell   (UK blogger)

A tune is lost in the morning chill

A reflection on the life of Leonard Cohen, the Canadian poet and singer who died recently 

Genesis 23 & 24 (a)

Not long after his wife Sarah died Abraham told his number one servant to go back to Haran and find a wife for his son Isaac.

The servant went to Haran, to the town of Nahor.

When women were getting water from the well in Nahor the servant prayed to God for help to find a wife for Isaac.

He said to God, "If I ask a woman for a drink and she answers 'Please take some of my water, and I'll give some to your camels, too', may she be the one you have chosen for Isaac."

Genesis 23 & 24 (b)

He had barely finished his prayer when Rebecca, daughter of Bethuel came to the well.

She was very beautiful and not married.

The servant asked her for water  and she said "Drink, sir and I'll get water for your camels, too."

Bethuel, a relative of Abraham, 
gladly agreed for Rebecca to go with the servant to be Isaac's wife.

Rebecca herself was happy with the plan.

Isaac married Rebecca and loved her dearly.

Dear God, please help people to find "Mr/Mrs Right"

Recording   

Acts 4.1-12

While Peter was talking to the crowd, some religious leaders and soldiers came and arrested Peter and John

The next day the leaders held a meeting and asked the prisoners: "By what power and by whose name did you heal the crippled beggar?"

Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, replied "The cripple is able to stand up perfectly healthy because he was healed by Jesus the Nazarene, the one you crucified, whom God raised from the dead

Salvation comes no other way. Only by the name of Jesus can we be saved"

Jesus, your name means "God saves", you are indeed the Saviour of the world

Recording 

Mark 10.35-45

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

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

The 10 other disciples were angry at James and John for seeking honor.  So Jesus said to them all  "In most places, people in power like to dominate and control others. But this is not to be your way of exercising authority.

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

Jesus, please help me want to help and serve other people, not dominate and control them

Recording 

What the world needs is more vice.
What the Church needs is more vice. 
Service.
As in Mark 10.

I am a great fan of Brendan Hoban. I read everything he writes, and his analysis of the Church's situation in Ireland is very telling. But yesterday as I thought about his article A Lost Tribe - priests at risk (on yesterday's menu) I couldn't help noticing how there was no mention of the poor, no mention of priests' service of the poor. The whole focus seemed to be looking inward. Not much if any looking outward. Maybe this is the way the Church in general and the Church in places like Ireland in particular can experience revival: Reach out! Service of the poor!

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

228: Recording

In some cases, one of the spouses is not baptized or does not want to practice the faith. 

This can make the other’s desire to live and grow in the Christian life difficult and at times painful.

Still, some common values can be found and these can be shared and relished. 

In any event, showing love for a spouse who is not a believer, bestowing happiness, soothing hurts and sharing life together represents a true path of sanctification. 

Love is always a gift of God. 

Wherever it is poured out, it makes its transforming presence felt, often in mysterious ways, even to the point that “the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband” (1 Cor 7:14).

217: Recording 

“The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast”.[152]  For this reason, the ecological crisis is also a summons to profound interior conversion.

 It must be said that some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment.  Others are passive; they choose not to change their habits and thus become inconsistent.

 So what they all need is an “ecological conversion”, whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them.

 Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.

206: Recording

Economy, as the very word indicates, should be the art of achieving a fitting management of our common home, which is the world as a whole. 

Each meaningful economic decision made in one part of the world has repercussions everywhere else; consequently, no government can act without regard for shared responsibility. 

Indeed, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find local solutions for enormous global problems which overwhelm local politics with difficulties to resolve. 

If we really want to achieve a healthy world economy, what is needed at this juncture of history is a more efficient way of interacting which, with due regard for the sovereignty of each nation, ensures the economic well-being of all countries, not just of a few.

Last night I received a discouraging email from a legal firm which had asked me to write a support letter for an inmate due to be sentenced in the near future. The email had words to the effect "since the Judge .... is totally against your campaign being used to request mitigation, and even savages barristers who use your letters, we have decided not to use your letter for this client."
My reply - to a Higher Court - "Jesus, please arrange for another judge on that 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, Wednesday, please bless the people of East Asia

And praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month:
On this 23rd of the month,  Jesus please bless the prisoners of Guangxi

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

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