Today is the Sunday of the 3rd Ordinary Week, Year A. It is cold today. We said farewell to Fr. Andrew Kim, a Korean priest who has worked in our parish for 17 months. Within this short period of time, he is able to exert great influence among the youth. He is able to win over the hearts, not just of the young, but also of everyone he meets. We praise God for His grace, having sent us a dedicated and passionate pastor.
In the Mass he celebrated today, the parish priest Fr. John Kwan and the assistant parish priest Fr. Patrick Sun co-celebrated. The altar boys who led the procession into the church could not hide their tears. This Mass was also attended by more than 80 parishers from 'Star of the Sea', Chai Wan. Previously Fr. Kim served there for 5 years.
The Gospel, Matthew 4:12-23, was read by Fr. Sun. When he reached 4:18, "As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother ...", he stopped, struggled for more than a minute to withhold his tears, and at last began to sob. He could not continue any more. Fr. Kwan had to take over to finish the reading. Fr. Sun, not Fr. Kim, was the first not to be able to contain his sorrows and wept. It was touching and emotional.
Then, Fr. Kim delivered his homily. He shared with us his motto as a missionary. "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9, Isaiah 64:3). As a missionary, he could not anticipate what God has prepared for him in the foreign lands he would visit. But he firmly believes that it must be the best for him. Today, he is able to see it with his own eyes and hear it with his own ears what his heart has not conceived. When he recalled his first years in Hong Kong, he was not able to speak Cantonese yet. He was very much like the illiterate fishermen Jesus called in Matthew 4. Yet, Jesus made them "fishers of men". Today, he is joyful to see the harvest in God's field. Fr. Kim is thankful to God and to us for allowing him to be a handy instrument of God's grace.
He is leaving us, returning to Korea to head a seminary. He promises to work his best to train up more missionary priests and send them to Hong Kong. His heart definitively remains with us. When asked what parting gift he wanted, he humbly asked us to send him Kung Kau Pao until the day he returns to Hong Kong in 5 years' time or at most 10. How truly he loves us! Fr. Kim is a missionary true to his call.
When the fishermen left behind their fishing nets and their family members (Matthew 4:20, 22), they must have experienced tremendous sorrow, like that the whole parish and Fr. Kim experienced today. But what lie ahead is more worthwhile than the tears we shed. The fishermen would become the pillars of the Church. We, with God's blessing, will bring a great light to the Tuen Mun citizens. We come together in order to separate. We separate in order to spread the love we have built up when we came together. What wisdom there is in Christian fellowship!
My God, we praise You and thank You for Your loving wonder. You call dedicated young men to spread Your saving love to people living in darkness and the cold. May more young men respond generously to Your call to harvest Your field. I pray for Hilary, my eldest son. He has not been practising his faith since secondary school. He has missed the opportunity to learn from the examples of these wonderful priests. He has been living away for so many years that I am not able to impart my faith in him. My God, if he finds favour in You, purify him so that he can be a vessel of noble use in Your household. Amen.
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