Feast of St. Philip Neri

Diversity is a good thing. Look at God's Creation. The universe is ablaze with the handiwork of God in all her majesty diversity.
I have been a very serious man, trying to be serious in all the work I do. Life should be lived to the full seriously. That probably is my motto. However, being serious is but only one of the many attitudes towards life which deserves all diversity. Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of a saint who showed the humourous side of holiness. Yes, all Christians should lead a life of holiness, but it never occurs to me that holiness can be fun and humourous! Indeed we have a lot to learn from St. Philip Neri (1515-1595).
I can't wait to return to St. Paul, a very serious model for me. He recognized the diversity of the needs of man and was committed to meet their needs in order to bring them the gospel of Jesus. May I quote extensively from Paul's first epistles to the Corinthians.
To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews; to those under the law I became as one under the law -- though not being myself under the law -- that I might win those under the law.
To those outside the law I became as one outside the law -- not being without law toward God but under the law of Christ -- that I might win those outside the law.
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings (1 Corinthians 9:20-23).
How enchanting it is to become all things to all men. Paul needed to empty himself, like Christ, of his legalism. It doesn't mean he gave up his own cherished principles, because he had found a higher principle --- charity. His love for the souls of men, Jews as well as Greeks, enabled him to embrace all humiliations and sufferings. His love was demonstrated in the farewell speech he made to the elders from Ephesus.
Paul was on his last journey to Jerusalem. He anticipated imprisonment and possibly death. In Miletus, he assembled the elders from Ephesus and bade them farewell. It was a very touching speech.
And when they came to him, he said to them: "You yourselves know how I lived among you all the time from the first day that I set foot in Asia,
serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which befell me through the plots of the Jews;
how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house,
testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance to God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:18-21).
Paul had spent nearly one and a half year in Corinth, earning his living as a tentmaker without putting burden on the believers (Acts 18:3, 11). He spent two years in Ephesus and I guess he did the same because people took away his handkerchiefs and aprons to heal the sick (Acts 19:10-12). This was how Paul served the Lord with humility, preaching the gospel and at the same time earning a living for himself. Paul posed a tough image among the readers. It is difficult to imagine how Paul would shed any tears. How did he serve the Lord with tears?
I appear tough and stern. The number of times I shed tears can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Once, some twenty eight years ago, when I recognized the graveness of my own sin after the priest had refused to absolve it. Once when my long time colleague in La Salle resigned. Once when the image of the imprisoned Madonna in Shung Tak was projected on the screen. The most recent cases happened when I was singing "As a Deer" in the school chapel with other Catholic colleagues and students, and when I was reading the 13^th Station of the Cross in the Rosary Chapel. I thank God for melting my heart of stone so that I may love more fully my family, my students and my colleagues. May I continue in the footstep of St. Paul to declare the gospel of Jesus. May I quote again from St. Paul.
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24).

Dear Lord, if You will, let me accomplish the course You have planned for me. Amen.