The Feast of the Holy Family 2010

The Holy Family is unlike any other families on earth. After all, it is holy, isn't it?
More than that, this family is where the sacred and the profane meet.

It all began with two ordinary families. Mary, a young virgin, was betrothed to Joseph, a carpenter, a son of David (Matthew 1:6, 16; Luke 3:23, 31). Before they lived together, Mary was found to be pregnant, if you would believe her story, by the Holy Spirit. Um ... Unwed mother. How inconvenient, even in today's standard. Joseph must have been troubled by this situation. Struggles raced through his mind. But eventually, Joseph chose to believe in her! Amazing, wasn't it? Some divine intervention must have happened. Otherwise, no ordinary man could be willing to raise a child which does not carry his own DNA, unless of course, Joseph was a man of gigantic charity. Be it divine revelation or charity, Joseph has demonstrated a nobility man could ever dream of. Here, the sacred meets the profane.


At last, the pregnant Mary delivered her first boy among cattle and poultry because there was no room in the inn (Luke 2:7). Later, shepherds came to worship the new born Saviour. Many famous paintings have a radiant Holy Infant illuminating the darkness of the stable in which the Holy Family was staying. Here again, the sacred meets the profane.

The Holy Infant is the Lord of the whole Creation. Yet, it was so fragile. It needed the protection of an ordinary couple, Joseph and Mary. In the gospel reading today, we read of the Holy Family fleeing from the treacherous attempts of King Herod on the life of the Holy Infant (Matthew 2:13-18). Once more, the sacred and the profane meet. There are many more to come. In brief, in the life of Jesus and in particular, the daily life of the Holy Family, we see the encounters between the sacred and the profane.

What can we say about life, especially a Christian family life?
To be sure, there will always be a tension between the sacred and the profane. This tension will never be resolved here and now. Events will keep on arising from all sides so that we will love and hate our spouse and our children. There will always be situations in which we will be noble and mean towards our family members. We will keep our temper in full control but there will be times when our patience runs thin ... We have to learn to live with this tension until we return to God.

Dear Holy Infant,
We are fragile like infants. Without Your intervention, life would be impossibly hard to bear.
I pray for the families in this region of the globe. May the number of domestic violence cases be reduced. May husbands and wives find strength in their love of each other. May their children nourish in the warmth of their love. Amen.

Picture credit: The picture by Charles Le Brun was retrieved from Wikipedia.

2010 Christmas Greeting

The True Light has entered the world. ὁ λόγος has become flesh and dwelt among us, Sharing our laughters and tears, Our strength and illnesses. Pains and Joys He is Emmanuel, God among us. Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël.

Listen more to the heart

I am a brainy man. Very often, I put on my logician cap to look at matters. Keeping my feelings from interferring my judgment seems such a logical and natural course of action to take. How could I ever question this "invincible" approach to life? It is invincible because the chances of making mistakes are reduced to the minimum. Furthermore, I would not be easily moved once I have discovered the "right" decision. But this optimism is gradually eroding ...

Unaware of the force of repressed emtions, I have often been caught off-balance. I found myself making choices which turned out to be irrational in the after thought. Such decisions should not have been made at all, yet I have made them. I come to realize that I cannot deny my emotions out of existence. They exist however successful I have been in repressing them. Therefore, the only logical and natural course is to acknowledge their existence and master them.

Take the gospel reading today as an example. It is the story of Annunciation to Joseph in Matthew. How do I usually interpret the following verses?
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit;
and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly (Matthew 1:18-19). Mary had shown signs of pregnancy before living with Joseph. She must have informed Joseph that this was the work of the Holy Spirit. Logically, Joseph would not believe her. He was a law-abiding man with compassion. He did not want to put Mary to shame. His justice came into conflict with his compassion. Therefore, Joseph had to find a legally acceptable way to resolve this conflict. At last, he decided to divorce her so that she would be free to live with the "man" who fathered this illegitimate child.
Matthew wrote the nativity story in this way perhaps because his Christian community was facing attacks from the Jewish counterparts. There must have been rumours about the illegitimate status of Jesus. Therefore, Joseph had thought up a clumsy way to handle the dilemma. It was totally law-abiding, satisfying the legalistic thirst of the Pharisees in particular. Yet, God's will be done. Instead of allowing Joseph to divorce the BVM, God ordered St. Joseph to marry her.

But what is so wrong about the above interpretation?
I have not consider the alternative. What if Joseph accepted Mary's explanation that the pregnancy was an act of God? In this case, how am I going to explain why Joseph still wanted to divorce Mary.
Fr. Milanese celebrated the 11 a.m. Mass this morning. Also today, more than 50 people took part in the Rite of Acceptance to become catechumens in our parish. In his homily, Fr. Milanese demonstrated his biblical scholarship and pastoral experience. He was able to apply most appropriately the gospel message to the needs of the catechumens.

Firstly, Fr. Milanese contrasted the two different approaches of St. Matthew and St. Luke in the Nativity narrative. While all the people mentioned in Luke (perhaps with the exception of the residents in Bethlehem. But again, it was not their fault. There was actually no room to receive this new born king.) welcomed and were joyful over the birth of the Messiah, those in Matthew were troubled and even hostile to his coming. Fr. Milanese had taken up an assumption diametrically opposite mine. In his meditation, Fr. Milanese came to think that St. Joseph believed in the BVM and accepted her explanation that the child came from the Holy Spirit. Now, Joseph was troubled. How could he possibly be able to foster the Son of God? It was too lofty a job for this humble lowly carpenter. Furthermore, God had chosen the BVM to be the Mother of the Son of God. How could Joseph marry the BVM whom God had claimed? He tried his best to figure out what to do other than marrying her. He had to proceed very carefully. Otherwise, he would put Mary to shame. With his upbringing, Joseph thought that nullifying the marriage contract seemed to be the best option. However, God had a different plan in His mind. In the end, God revealed His plan to Joseph to settle his doubts.
Then, Fr. Milanese turned to the catechumens. Many of them would still have doubts in their minds. After baptism, would they be good enough to live up to the name of a Christian? Fr. Milanese told them to put their hearts at ease. Truly, all of us are not good enough. Had we been good enough, we would have had no need of God's salvation and we would not have been sitting here. Like St. Joseph, we should seek God' will. Pray to Him. In this aspect, the heart is better than the head. Therefore, in our prayers, listen more instead of saying more. Furthermore, listen to the heart as well.
The way Fr. Milanese interpreted this text allows him to apply to the needs of the catechumens. My approach is rather top-down and imposing. It is not able to generate any pastoral guidelines for my personal spiritual life.

Dear Lord, allow me to quiet down and take heed of my heart. Amen.

Sour and Sweet experiences

The third Sunday of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday, taken from the first word of the Introit. We should rejoice because the Lord is near. Fr. Lejeune celebrated the 11 a.m. Mass with us. He shared with us an obvious truth in life. Our experiences are never one-sided. There is sweetness amid sourness.

He was very humble. Last Wednesday when the Diocese celebrated her own feast day, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the BVM, he was co-celebrating beside the Bishop in honour of his Diamond jubilee of ordination. Commenting on this, he said that his priestly life has been nothing but mediocre. He thanked the Lord for he was able to rejoice even in times of hardship as a missionary. He turned to the reading of Isaiah today to illustrate his point.
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,the desert shall rejoice and blossom;like the crocus (Isaiah 35:1)
Difficulties we meet in our daily life harden our hearts and dampen our faith. They make our souls dry and lifeless like the wilderness, like the desert. With God's deliverance, we are animated. God's grace bursts forth in us and brings forth life again in us.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water (Isaiah 35:6b-7a).
Life is never meant to be a bed or roses. Difficulties and frustrations that we meet in life are meant to galvanize and polish us, pushing us towards greater maturity. Thank God, we stumble. Thank God, we fail.

However, there was a verse that troubled us.
Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you." (Isaiah 35:4)
What does venegeance mean?
It is not right to simply look at the word vengeance alone. It should be read together with recompense. This is an echo of Deuteronomy.
Vengeance is mine, and recompense, ...
For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, ...
See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand (Deuteronomy 32:35a, 36a, 39)
The servants of God usually suffer in the present age because they go against the current. They challenge the injustice of the system. They uncover the mistakes of those in power. Their very presence put the self-righteous into shame. Consequently, they suffer persecutions.
God is their only hope. He will come with punishments and rewards.

Fr. Lejeune brought to mind the case of Liu Xiao Bo, the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. It is an honour for Liu and China but at the same time, Liu is still serving his prison sentence which most of us think is unjustified. Many countries, under the duress of China, "boycotted" the ceremony. Confronting such a powerful country like China, even USA and Russia dare not insist. I believe that nothing can happen without God's permission. Therefore, it takes God, and God alone, to bend China into submission. These words did not come from Fr. Lejeune. They came out from my finger tips.

Dear Lord, I pray with Liu that he would be the last to be imprisoned for the crime of free speech. I also pray for our mother country that she will one day open her ears and heart to listen to dissent and democratic voices. Amen.

What is left when all logic fails?

Last week, we spent 21 hours in the media seminar organized by the Holy Spirit Seminary College. It is part of our BRS programme, organized once every two years. Dr. Dominic Yung led his team of staff to explore aging, sickness and death through movies. They are very professional and their contents are very substantial. I must say that I was unprepared for such an overwhelming emotional bombardments. Both the full-featured movies and the video clips have been well chosen and sent my head and my heart spinning. They stirred up a lot of reflections in us afterwards.

On Tuesday, Dr. Yung kickstarted the seminar with an analysis of a silent movie "The Passion of Joan of Arc" which was made in 1928. The martyrdom of St. Joan of Arc was portrayed in the fashion of the passion of Christ. The director made use of long stretches of big close-ups to create an oppressive tension on the audience. Today, Dr. Yung told us that two events happened when he prepared the materials for this seminar. First of all, his mother passed away. Then, the Diocesan Audio-Visual Centre had to issue an official statement about the recent "Devil jibe" incident. The Maid of Orléans was chosen by God to do things which she might not want to do. This very much summarizes what Dr. Yung had in mind at that time. It also reminds me to let go, not to insist on doing things in my way.
Dear Lord, Your will be done. But it is easier said than done!

On Thursday, a full-featured Japanese film, "Memories of Tomorrow", was shown. Ms. Zita Tsang, a staff of the HKDAVC, briefed us on the background of this 2007 movie. The story follows the life of a successful advertizing executive after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. His memories began to fail him. He repeatedly bought bottles after bottles of shaving cream. He lost his ways in errants. When the film approaches the end, he could not recognize his own wife! Still, his wife did not abandon him. Through the doctor who diagnosed the man, the director announced to the whole world his attitude towards life. Sickness and death are fates from which nobody can escape. Therefore, seize the moment. Do now whatever you can do to make your remaining days shine forth. This film rang my heart because I found many similarities between me and the executive. I was unable to hold back my tears. I was particularly touched by the wife and there is no need to show me any logic. No logic will be able to convince anybody. I am touched and will love my wife better and more. Period.

Saturday morning, Ms Zita Tsang continued to present her research on the 26 Japanese martyrs and a silent movie made in 1931 about them. She tried to postulate the similarity between Japanese  culture and Christianity. Her colleague, Ms. Catherine Wong, continued to explore the topic. She followed the five stages of grief postulated by Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and illustrated them with a huge collection of video clips. These HKDAVC people must have spend a lot of time editing the clips. In the afternoon, she showed us a 2001 Cantonese movie, "The Funeral March 常在我心".The plot of this little romance surprised us. We didn't expect the two canto-pop singers to be able to act. They did deliver a convincing picture. Truly, we can lead a happy, helpful and meaningful life even after we are diagnosed with an incurable disease. Movies can persuade. Cheer up.

This morning, another Ms. Tsang shared her collection. She has worked as a social worker as well as a Radio DJ. Obviously, she is very outgoing and pleasant. We enjoyed her presentation a lot. Though the topic of this seminar is rather negative, all the speakers are able to radiate a positive beam of hope in the gloomy atmosphere which induces us to confront our own attitudes towards life and death. Before lunch, we watch "Ponette", a 1996 French movie which is about a four-year-old girl losing her mother in a car accident. The movies superbly explores how this young girl tried different ways to cope with this traumatic loss and the consequent grief. The classmates were captivated by the incredible acting of the four-year-old actress.
Life is full of contingencies.Entrust our life in God' hand.

In the afternoon, Dr. Dominic Yung led us through a chronology of Christ movies, beginning with the silent movie "From the manger to the Cross" of 1912 upto the realistic "The Passion of Christ" in 2004. It was an eye-opening experience for us. Thus, we finished this 21-hour seminar and celebrated the Sunday mass in the chapel.

Dear Lord, I pray that I may be able to make good use of these movies clips to motivate my students to explore the deeper meaning of life and to discover You will. Amen.