Love in deed and in truth

This afternoon, I attended the Executive Committee meeting of the Diocesan Secondary School Religious Education Committee. The Spiritual Director, Fr. Baptista S.J. was present and as usual, he likes to crack jokes with us. Timothy To of St. Peter's was the chairman and Joan Lam of Newman College the treasurer. These are dedicated people to work with.
In his allocutio, Fr. Baptista always encourages us to love our Church and to opt for the poor. Unlike Protestant churches which see themselves as congregations of saints, the Catholic Church sees herself as a church of sinners in need of God's redemption. Therefore, the Church is imperfect. She needs continuous purification until the Second Coming of our Lord. Still, we should love her despite her blemishes. Therefore, we should be ready to forgive. Then we can stand united to improve the situation of the poor.
In anticipation of more diplomatic rapport between Vatican and mainland China, we will have more contact with the churches in the mainland. The three attitudes mentioned above will help facilitate our dialogue with them.
After his allocutio, committee members shared their thoughts. Joan spoke up. Most of her students receive comprehensive social assistance. Therefore, she always encourages them to study hard in order to escape from poverty in the future. It is better to keep them in school than to let them loose roaming the street or return to their flats of bare walls. Struck by recent events happening around her student, Joan could not hold back her tears when she told us how a 13-year student faced the death of her father who died of cancer. Holding only a two-way permit, the student's mother did not know much about funeral matters in Hong Kong and she could not stay long with her daughter. Joan is a member of the Bereavement Pastoral Association of her parish. Knowing the case, all the members came and collected on the spot at the crematorium about $5000 to help the student out. The farewell rite was conducted cordially. Not only was Joan deeply touched, but also the people from the funeral parlour ...
Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth (1 John 3:18).
Then, the committee members shared their worries about the difficulties in implementing the NSS Ethics & Religious Studies elective. We lack confidence in recruiting enough students to enrol in this subject, not to mention the difficulty in handling the subject matter.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him (1 John 3:21-22).

Dear Lord, we keep Your commandments to love. We beseech You. Help us implement E&RS in the upcoming NSS. Give us the confidence we lack. Amen.