Who Wants To Be Such A King? 有誰願意為王呢？

Solemnity of Christ the Universal King, Year B
Theme: Who Wants To Be Such A King? 有誰願意為王呢？

With a Chinese background, my understanding of kingship would not be identical with the biblical one, if there be such a “biblical kingship” concept. Like most civilizations, the Chinese society has also gone through the evolutionary stage of feudalism. There were kingdoms occupying regions of land/resources as well as subjects under the governance of a mandarin hierarchy headed by a king. Such a structure is necessary in order to handle building projects proportional to the occupied land mass and military campaigns for defence or expansion. Of course, the efficiency and effectiveness of such a structure depends on its designs as well as how the civil servants managed corruptions and power abuses. The Chinese concept of kingship is rather loose. For example, the most powerful players in whatever fields, be it chess and herbal medicine etc., even a horse that has won most races, are entitled kings. With more diversified fields such as poetry, where a “king” title is insufficient to honour all the top players, people would call them “saint”, “fairy” or even “buddha”. In short, when there are players in a field, the most outstanding player would be entitled “king”.

When Yahweh decides not to give up humanity that He created in His own image, He has in mind a long lasting salvation project. Firstly, He befriended some human beings, such as Noah and Abraham, to prepare a path for His only begotten Son to incarnate. He multiplied the descendants of Abraham in Egypt and liberated his 600,000 offspring with earth shaking miracles. Moses was His appointed frontman to execute this project that is a component of a much bigger venture. Then the Israelites, the Chosen People had settled in the Promised Land of Canaan. In the early stage, the 12 tribes were loosely united. In the tradition of Moses, “Judges” arose to unite them to fight against oppressors neighbour. Samuel was the last Judge to unite and settle disputes among the 12 tribes. However, time had changed. The Israelites wanted to follow the examples of other nations. They demanded a king to lead them. Samuel prayed to the Lord who says, “Listen to whatever the people say. You are not the one they are rejecting. They are rejecting me as their king” (1 Samuel 8:7). Samuel explained to the people the privileges of a king and warned them that they would regret and by then the Lord would not answer them (8:11-18)! Perhaps the privileges were too attractive, namely to lord over all his subjects, to take away from his subjects whatever fancies him for his own pleasure. In short, all subjects would become his slaves. The people refused to listen to Samuel’s advice and persisted. At last, Samuel anointed Saul, “a handsome young man. There was no other Israelite more handsome than Saul; he stood head and shoulders above the people” (9:2) to be the first king of Israel. Scrutinizing the history of the Israel kingdom, we find that all Israelite kings were flawed. Saul was disobedient. David was after God’s heart (13:14) but committed adultery and murder. God gave Solomon wisdom (1 Kings 3:12) and he built the first Temple which he populated with idols brought along by his pagan wives and concubines. King Josiah renewed the Covenant with the Lord and started religious reformation (2 Kings 23:1-14) which lasted only 13 years because of his premature death in a military compaign against Egypt (23:29) … Sadly, honourable kingship would only exist in the minds of Plato and Confucius!

Human kingship is doomed from the beginning because human beings do not live longer than 120 years. “The LORD said: My spirit shall not remain in human beings forever, because they are only flesh. Their days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6:3). Since no human king would live forever, finding a legitimate successor constantly occupies the minds of kings. Naturally, kings want to retain sovereignty in order to protect their extended families as well as the wealth and privileges they have accumulated. Besides successors, kingmakers are also another major headache for kings. Kingmakers also have their interests to protect. If they were able to put a man on the throne, they would have no qualm in toppling the present occupant who threatened to remove them in order to install a new one in their favour on the throne. If a government is totalitarian, succession is usually bloody and overthrowing emperors usually involves revolutions/rebellions or civil wars. Democratic governments are better only in this respect. Succession through voting is not bloody. Yet, it does not guarantee true liberty, justice and fraternity because the actual rulers of the country are those wealthy corporations behind the powerbrokers. Alas! The hearts and minds of kings/presidents are divided. Where could we find kings who would dedicate their whole beings for the benefits of the subjects under their rules? I am afraid we couldn’t find any in this world.

The Great Depression followed the First World War. The world was becoming the stage of the two most powerful players: The USA, which represents capitalism, and the USSR, which represents socialism. Alas! Both ideologies trample upon the autonomy and dignity of humanity, the image of God. Both of them are elitist in which a minority access, control and consume more than 90% of the resources of this planet, no worse than the privileges described in the First Book of Samuel above. The majority of humanity are like the beggar Lazarus, “who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table” (Luke 16:21a). Two major power blocs emerged to enslave the majority of humanity. It is a form of modern day slavery, which love and justice are in short supply and God forbids! The Church has the obligation to tell the world what sort of kings she needs. In 1925, Pope Pius XI instituted the Solemnity of Christ the Universal King to remind us that while governments come and go, Christ reigns as King forever. However, what kind of kingship Christ is teaching the world?

In the gospel reading today, we may take a glimpse of Christ’s kingship. Interrogated by Pilate whether He was the King of the Jews (John 18:33) and after a few exchanges, Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world … But as it is, my kingdom is not here” (18:36). That is to say, Christ declines to enslave humanity. Translated in modern jargon, Christ respects our autonomy and our right to private property. Of course, the Son of God has no need of slaves. As for state mandarins and CEO’s of multi-national corporations, are you willing to pocket less and share the fruits of production with the labourers? If you are secular and reject religious spirituality as irrelevant, at least a Chinese aphorism might be more palatable to you. Here is ancient wisdom, namely 「藏富於民to stockpile wealth among the commoners」. While you fatten yourselves, forget not to keep your lambs fat! For the sake of sustainable development for future generations, refrain from 「竭澤而漁fishing by draining the swamps」. Christ is the Universal King whose crown is a crown of thorns and whose throne is the cross.

Beloved brethren! Who wants to be such a king, except the Son of Man prophesized in the books of Daniel and Revelation? “He [the Son of Man] received dominion, splendor, and kingship; all nations, peoples and tongues will serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, his kingship, one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14). “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:5-6). This is the kingdom that Jesus refers, a kingdom of priests for the Father, when He replied Pilate (John 18:36). Christ is the supreme High Priest who offers Himself to the Father for the world. Christ the Universal King has made us into a kingdom of priests to offer to the Father for the world. Beloved brethren! Are you ready to join Christ the Universal King?
God bless!

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Picture Credit: young-catholics.com

Lend Support For Those Who Have Lost their Child

Lend Support For Those Who Have Lost their Child

by Deacon Alex

Men are mortal. Death is a certainty everybody has to stare at face to face sooner or later. The life expectancy of this city is eighty plus. Thus, for senior citizens over eighty-five, every single day is already a bonus. Despite our advances in medical technologies, senior citizens do not generally desire longevity due to their physical frailties as well as loneliness. Imagine your relatives and friends are passing away one by one; your beloved ones as well as your soulmates are leaving you behind on earth … Living in such loneliness is unbearable for most of us. Still, in Chinese culture, funerals of octogenarians are “joyous funerals”!

On the other hand, funerals of youngsters and infants cause greater sorrows. The deceased possessed a lot of unfulfilled potentials extinguished by their untimely deaths. They could have broken a lot of new grounds in unsolved problems in mathematics, natural sciences and medical technologies etc. to leave behind a legacy beneficent to all humanity. They could have contributed to the prosperity, stability and a better governance of societies for the future generations. They could have helped build a more harmonious and peaceful world where liberty, equality and fraternity would be a reality ... It is pitiful to see that they no longer have the opportunity to share their sweetness and their joy with their (intended) spouses to weave their dreams. Together with their comrades, they could have set honourable exemplars for the younger generations who would come after them … Their untimely deaths turn all these eventualities to null.

Pity those white-haired seniors who have lost their inheritors. It took decades to groom capable successors and now outsiders would take over. Perhaps they don’t need our sympathy because they have already resigned to fate, knowing that their days are numbered and there is no hope to reclaim the loss. They have accepted and contained the loss. Pity the would-be retirees who have lost their young adult child who would have a promising future and be capable of providing his/her parents a secure retirement. It would have been too late to give birth to a second child to carry on the mission. There is no hope to reclaim the loss. Compared with the octogenarians, who are more painful? I guess the longer parents have spent their lives with their lost children, the more painful the loss will be, unless you have surrendered to fate! Pity the young couples who have lost their firstborn’s. But unlike the two categories of people mentioned before, their pains are proportionally less traumatic because they still have hope even though they are less capable to manage their pains and losses!

Indeed, hope is something which sustains us in painful times which are part and parcels of a genuine life. Without hope, life is extremely unbearable. Where can we place our hope, if not in God? The Psalter says it well, “Put no trust in princes, in children of Adam powerless to save. Who breathing his last, returns to the earth; that day all his planning comes to nothing” (Psalms 146:3-4). Yahweh is eternal and thus more trustworthy than mortals. Moreover, He is merciful. He too has lost His only begotten Son on the cross in order to save humanity. He knows far better than anybody the pains of losing a child and He saves!

Beloved brethren! God is our authentic hope. Others won’t last. In November, let us pray together with the Pope that all parents who mourn the loss of a son or daughter find support in their community, and may receive peace of heart from the Spirit of Consolation. Amen.
God bless!

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Photo Credit: euromedmonitor.org

Bet Our Hope On Jesus’ Words 把希望押在耶穌的話上

Thirty-third Ordinary Sunday, Year B
Theme: Bet Our Hope On Jesus’ Words 把希望押在耶穌的話上

Human beings rely on languages to communicate, be they mathematical languages, musical languages, natural languages, scientific languages and sign languages etc. Yet on a macro level, languages change in time and without exception languages that fail to adapt to changing environments go extinct. Think about ourselves. On a personal level, nobody is able to honour all his pledges. Somehow, there are factors he can blame on for his failing to honour the pledges he made even to his most loved ones. Divorce rates, even among Catholics, point to such a stark reality. Imagine how lovely you once were as infants and the happiness and hope you gave your parents. Where has your loveliness gone nowadays? Whether we like it or not, being human, we grow, develop, mature, age, pass away and cannot arrest the process. Alas! Many ambitious people have been able to gather a large crowd of followers with sweet talks. With a huge following, those charismatic leaders were able to flex mighty political muscles to challenge the ruling class and even overthrow them. However, very few revolutionary coups were able to last long in human history because leaders inevitably die and their successors have other thoughts. Therefore, Jesus was truly bold when He claims in today’s gospel, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mark 13:31). How can a man make such a claim, unless Jesus is more than just a mortal man? Indeed, this is one of the two basic articles of faith in Christianity: namely, that Jesus is both human and divine! Thus, He is eternal. With sufficient time, He is able to achieve anything. Moreover, the Church He builds shall be able to withstand volleys of attack from hell without crumbling (Matthew 16:18)!

Then, what are Jesus’ words? What did He say about Himself, His mission and His relations with us? Before we proceed, we should bear in mind the limitations of our understandings because of the finite knowledge we possessed and the prejudices we have developed over the years. The only certainty we can have is that we do not possess all the knowledge we need to understand. Nevertheless, let us move ahead and pray that the merciful Lord will enlighten our finitude.

First of all, while His contemporaries anticipated Him to be their Messiah, a descendant of King David and a military liberator of Jews, Jesus has never claimed Himself to be the Anointed One. He preferred calling Himself a less conspicuous title: the Son of Man (Mark 13:26). However, in the gospel of John, the beloved disciple, we find Him claiming, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus was claiming to be the channel through whom humanity may gain access to God the Father. Previously He told the Jews who believed in Him, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (8:31-32). From this we see that there would be two groups of people: those who believe in Him and those who don’t. Moreover, it is important “to remain in His word”. Otherwise, we will not be true disciples. What does it mean? Let’s assume that “to remain in His word” means to believe and practise Jesus’ teachings. To believe is never sufficient because like any study, one will not attain any knowledge without practising and sooner or later one will even lose their attained knowledge when they don’t put their knowledge into practice. Thus, true Christians are not those who were enrolled into Christianity through baptism but those who obey Jesus’ instructions. Jesus the Son of God promises that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. To a certain extent, Jesus is the anticipated liberator, the Messiah but on a totally different dimension. Instead of fighting a political-military battle against the powerful Roman Empire, Jesus is leading His disciples to fight a spiritual warfare against evil! Due to our limitations, it takes time for us to know the truth. Of course, by “truth” Jesus meant Himself during the revelation in the Last Supper. It takes time for us to know Jesus and thus to build up a meaningful relationship with the Son of God. Once such a relationship is secured, we will be able to attain life because Jesus Himself is the author of life. If we are able to build up a meaningful relationship with Jesus, we will be able to partake in His life which is eternal.

The Son of God took up humanity and became man. He spoke human languages so that we would be able to know and understand God’s will. Of course, some of His instructions are next to impossible to practise. For example the Beatitudes. They go against the mentality of modern people who need to be assertive and aggressive in order to stay afloat in a modern commercial society. They need to prepare several contingency plans to play safe … But who wants to be poor? Who doesn’t want to be assertive? Who doesn’t enjoy imposing his own will on his subordinates? But Jesus respects the free will of humanity. He refrains from imposing His good will on us but offers us a choice. So, our salvation depends on our personal choice. When people choose to believe in Him and obey His instructions, they find the truth and the truth will free them from the bondage of sin, from all sorts of hell we create for ourselves and for others throughout our lives on earth. Coincidentally, a recent box-office hit entitled “The Last Dance” treats the theme of breaking down “hells” in our hearts. The title in Chinese “Hell-break” is a more literal rendition of its theme. The popularity of this movie indicates that deep down the souls of the citizens, there is a hunger for genuine liberation.

Is it really that difficult to break hell? Surprisingly it is not at all! Once again, it depends on whether you choose to believe in Jesus or not. On the social media, we find many posts offering model answers and tips to questions asked by big companies such as Amazon and Google during their employment interviews. In fact, Jesus has done this two millennia ago in one of His parables. In the Parable of Sheep and Goats, He leaks six “examination questions” He shall ask in the Final Judgment! “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me” (Matthew 25:35-36). These examination questions are fair because if He had asked whether you had attended masses on Sundays, it would have been unfair for people living thousands of years before the establishment of the Church! Moreover, these examination questions are practical and are not difficult to perform. Even the physically disabled are capable of doing. Then why do some people reject Jesus’ teaching?

To answer the first question I posed in the second paragraph above, namely what are Jesus’ words? Simply put, His words are words of love. When He answered the challenge of locating the first commandment among the 631 laws, He quoted the Shema Israel (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Knowing that it is unfair to Gentiles of old and new, Jesus immediately quoted the “love thy neighbour as thyself” commandment (Leviticus 19:18) to put it on a par with the Shema Israel. The beloved disciple makes it clear when he writes, “Whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). The Bible tells us that God created us in His image (Genesis 1:26) and God is love (1 John 4:8). Then who is born without the capability to love? However, some people have picked up a wrong type of value-system so that they have buried/stored away their talent to love (Matthew 25:25; Luke 19:20). Had God asked us to do Herculean endeavours, I am sure many of us would have done it without a second thought. Why do so many people hesitate and even refuse when God simply asks us to love?

Beloved brethren! Secular wisdom refuses to put all eggs in one basket. I beg to differ. Here I am not encouraging you to gamble but the stakes are so advantageous to us! I find it disrespectful in declining God’s offer. Instead, we should bet on Jesus’ words, putting all our hopes in one basket of Jesus’ words. Amen.
God bless!

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Picture Credit: runningscience.co.za, stheadline.com

The Lord Will Multiply A Million Fold 主會百萬倍增加恩寵

Thirty-Second Ordinary Sunday, Year B
Theme: The Lord Will Multiply A Million Fold 主會百萬倍增加恩寵

There were different types of widows in the Old Testament. Thus, we must understand their stories together with their backgrounds. Unlike many other societies in which superstitious people thought that somehow, widows caused the death of their husbands and thus widows were accursed and the general public had better avoided them, the fates of Jewish widows depended very much on their fertility or whether they had children. It was because with a male child, the relatives of the deceased husband had to take care of the child and thus the widow mother. There was also a custom of Levirate marriage in which the brother of a deceased man was obligated to marry his brother’s widow to give birth to a son for the deceased brother in order to continue the lineage of the deceased man. If the widow were not too old to bear children, this would be her second safety net! All these rules were charitable and equivalent to modern day social security measures to take care of the poor and the disadvantaged. In Genesis 38, we find the famous story of the widow Tamar whose father-in-law failed to do her justice through Levirate marriage.

We usually have a wrong impression that widows must be poor like the widow of Zarephath who was collecting a few sticks to prepare the last cake for herself and her son and then waited for starvation (1 Kings 17:12). Not necessarily so! Indeed, in today’s gospel reading, we hear of Jesus’ criticism of the evils of scribes, “They devour the houses of widows …” (Mark 12:40a) In fact, widows could be widows whose deceased husbands were rich! In the Old Testament, there was a beautiful and rich widow called Judith who was able to charm an enemy general Holofernes with her beauty and beheaded him (Judith 13:8), a femme fatale indeed! From the nativity story of Jesus in the gospel of Luke, we know of a widow prophetess Anna who spent more than 63 years in the Temple “worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer” (Luke 2:37b). Somehow, the Temple took care of some widows at least in the early years of Jesus. Time had really changed. Instead of the Temple taking care of widows, like what she had done during the early years of Jesus, some thirty years later, the poor widow was obliged to offer her two brass coins in the Temple treasury! The story of this poor widow has immortalized the concept of poor widows throughout the ages when the Church carries the baton of the Temple to take care of widows. Paul wrote about widows in his epistles to the churches (1 Corinthians 7:8, 1 Timothy 5:5). The Acts recorded the incident of establishing deacons to take care of the distributions of provisions to the poor and the widows within the early Church (Acts 6:1). The stories of poor widows are worth telling because they manifest the mercy of God (Psalms 146:9). Before God, who is not a poor widow?

Twelve years ago, I was elected a deacon candidate. I could not remember the gospel reading of the rite of election because during the whole celebration, the story of the poor widow who offered two brass coins filled my head. I was very much elated because despite all my shortcomings, the Lord accepted my poverty. “For they [the rich] have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood” (Mark 12:44). The Lord does not measure our performance by quantity: namely the amount of money or the length of service etc., but by the quality of our heart: namely our sincerity and loving-care. My 7-day pre-ordination retreat further confirmed this. I wept for seven days for the deeply repressed shortcomings in my soul in contrast to Jesus’ mercy. Wounds were uncovered but there was not sufficient time to nurse and to heal. In the end, the image of Jesus’ Stigmata told me that I had to live with my shortcomings, to carry them forever without healing in order to become a wounded-healer! I learnt that it is the heart that counts, not the quantity. As for the quantity, I have no doubt that the Lord would multiply the widow’s brass coins as He did with the five loaves and two fish. He is more than capable to provide for our needs. Moreover, He would also transform the hearts of the donors like He did with the water in the Cana banquet. If the merciful Lord was able to transform water into wine, would it be impossible for Him to transform the vanity of the wealthy people into genuine piety and charity? Meditate deeper, hadn’t Jesus transformed one of the Boanerges (3:17) into an apostle who always wrote on the topic of love? Had not Jesus transformed the Christians-hunter Saul into the apostle Paul, the Christianity founder? Jesus’ multiplicative and transformative powers inspire great hope in all of us. Meanwhile, we should not despise the insignificant services of the others, and only see the importance of our own contributions because the Lord may multiply the graces of the insignificant services of insignificant people a million-fold!

Some people have a more realistic temperance. They question how the poor widow would survive her days ahead! The kind-hearted and realistic readers worry that when she had no more money, she would be starved to death in the days to come. There was no mention of her child. She might be too old to get married again or if she had a child, it would only be a daughter not counted by the deceased husband’s relatives. Then her burden would be greater! I posed the same question to my legionaries and they told me that the worry was unnecessary. Unlike modern people who lock themselves up in their own flats and rooms without knowing their neighbour, it was not so in ancient times when the community was more closely knitted. People in a village knew each other well. In contrast, it is not uncommon today for people to call the police to break into flats when they smell of the stench of rotting corpse of home alone neighbour next door! In short, the widow’s neighbour would take care of her daily needs and in return, she might do some house chores for her neighbour. That might also account for the source of her two brass coins! Not long afterwards, when the early Church came into existence on the Pentecost, this poor widow might be among the first 3000 converts and started the trend of widow membership, making the Church a more conspicuous sign of God’s mercy on earth! Thus, the Church is on her right path nowadays in upholding the “preferential option for the poor”. “Love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of every kind is as essential as the ministry of sacraments and preaching of the Gospel” (Pope Benedict XVI, “Deus Caritas Est”, §22, 2005).

Beloved brethren! Representing God on earth, the People of God should take care of widows and orphans until the social services departments of a state are able to take over the mission. Then the Church shall move on to feed the hunger of other disadvantaged. We don’t have to worry about the resources because God will provide (Genesis 22:8) and multiply. Amen.
God bless!

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Picture Credit: reddit.com/r/AncientCoins

Listen and You’ll Find Hope 聆聽就有希望

Thirty-First Ordinary Sunday, Year B
Theme: Listen and You’ll Find Hope 聆聽就有希望

Christians and Jews share a high percentage of their scriptures. We know that the Christian Bible is made up of two Testaments, namely the Old Testament and the New Testament. Most of the books of the Old Testament came from the Jewish Scriptures. In the book of Jeremiah, we find “See, days are coming --- oracle of the LORD --- when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31). Therefore, Christians are justified in creating another collection of books written after the establishment of the early Church; and calling the collection, the New Testament! So, it is not wrong to view Christianity as an outgrowth from Judaism. The Jews divide their Scriptures into three sections: Torah, Prophets and Holy Writings whereas Christians follow the division of a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Septuagint (LXX) into four sections: Pentateuch, History, Wisdom Literature and Prophets. Obviously, the two sets of collections would not be identical. Luckily, both Torah and Pentateuch contain the same books attributed to Moses.

The Torah is the most important collection of scriptures for Jews. The Sadducees who belonged to the priestly class accepted only the Torah whereas the Pharisees accepted all three collections as authoritative. Here are some basic statistics about the Torah/Pentateuch. There are 50 chapters in Genesis, 40 in Exodus, 24 in Leviticus, 36 in Numbers and 34 in Deuteronomy. Furthermore, the frequencies of the word “hear/listen” in these five books are: 63 in Genesis [1.26 per chapter], 50 in Exodus [1.25], 7 in Leviticus [0.29], 33 in Numbers [0.92] and 91 in Deuteronomy [2.68]! No wonder within the five verses of the first reading today, the word “hear” appears twice (Deuteronomy 6:3, 4)! Scholars believe that Deuteronomy is a collection of three parting speeches of Moses delivered to the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land. Moses knew that the LORD barred him from entering the Promised Land. Furthermore, he knew all too well that the Israelites were stiff-necked (appear some 7 times within the Torah). He was anxious for their future in the Promised Land, “so that you, that is, you, your child, and your grandchild, may fear the LORD, your God, by keeping, as long as you live, all his statutes and commandments …, and thus have long life” (6:2).

Let’s re-visit how God created the known universe. In the book of Genesis chapter one, a priestly hymn describes how God spoke and things were created: light, firmament, oceans and land masses, sun and all celestial bodies etc. … But before the creation of men, God seemed to be speaking to a stone-wall. The Creation was not yet able to respond meaningfully to His words. So, on the sixth day, God created human beings in His own image which then was able to respond to His words! What is the appropriate response towards speaking? Of course it must be hearing/listening. Speaking together with listening establishes a connection, a relation between two parties.

Before one can keep all God’s statutes and commandments, one must know them first. Throughout the ages, the scribes and Pharisees were able to draw up 613 laws scattered among the five books in Torah to help the Jews practise their faith. It was in this context that a scribe challenged Jesus and asked Him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” (Mark 12:28) and Jesus quoted him the “Shema Israel” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) and “Love your neighbour as youself” (Leviticus 19:18). Most of us would be easily attracted by the word “love” in these two commandments. However, I opine that listening takes precedence over love because it is meaningless to love without firstly establishing a connection, a relationship! As I have mentioned earlier, listening to God establishes our relationship with Him. Listening enables us to know/discern the will of God and then to respond. Obeying God’s will means loving God. Not listening to God or not following His commandments means we severe our connection with God. We literally cut ourselves away from God, away from our source of life. As the Chosen People of God, how did the Israelites/Jews perform? The Prophets and the Wisdom Literature are littered with God’s complaints: “For this is a rebellious people, deceitful children. Children who refuse to listen to the instruction of the LORD” (Isaiah 30:9); “Listen, my people, I will testify against you. If only you will listen to me, Israel!” (Psalms 81:8) Even up to today, the Israelites have demonstrated to the whole world what would happen to a Chosen People who do not listen to the LORD God!

The second reading today is an excerpt from Hebrews 7. We should read the whole chapter in order to understand the logic flow. The main theme of the second reading tells us the superiority of Jesus’ High Priesthood over the high priests of Torah. According to Jewish Law, high priests must come from the house of Aaron whereas chief priests and lower class priests from the tribe of Levi. Remember, Jesus was a descendant of Judah, not of Levi. He could not be a priest, not to mention, the High Priest, according to the law. The levitical High Priests were inferior because they had to offer sacrifice for their own sins before they could offer sacrifice for the people (Hebrews 7:27) whereas Jesus, the Son of God needs not to offer sacrifice for Himself! The author of Hebrews quoted the Psalms to prove that God the Father had vowed to make the Son an eternal High Priest, “The Lord has sworn and will not waver: ‘You are a priest forever (7:21) according to the order of Melchizedek (7:17)” (Psalms 110:4). Verses 1 to 3 in Psalms 110 points to someone from the tribe of Judah and of course, God’s vow must be as valid as, if not stronger than the levitical laws.

Jesus is our hope because He is able to answer at least two problems in the first of all the commandments. Firstly, ordinary people and modern ones in particular are multi-tasking. We do many things at the same time by scheduling our tasks into different time-slots, urgency being the criterion. Therefore, how can modern people love God with ALL their hearts, ALL their souls and ALL their strength? For non-believers, the concept of God is irrelevant and they would allot no time and no energy to entertain it. As for believers, I am afraid only the consecrated religious would be able to love God with ALL their strength. Secular clergy will have a lot of management tasks to handle. They are torn between loving God and maintaining an expanding Church! What can listening to Jesus help those poor souls? Jesus is the embodiment of the word of God and the author of Hebrews writes, “Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart” (Hebrew 4:12). After establishing connection with Jesus, He is able to penetrate our souls and spirit. When we are open to Him, He is able to transform us and make it easy for us to discern the Father’s will and obey it.

Now that we are enabled/empowered, how are we guaranteed to channel ALL our efforts to follow God’s will? Of course it is unrealistic to accomplish the target of total devotion overnight. But there is a hope that Jesus would make up what is lacking in us. In His public ministry, Jesus has demonstrated times and again His transformative and multiplicative powers: namely the miracle of transforming water into wine at Cana (John 2:9) and the miracle of five loaves and two fish to feed 5000 men (6:9-13)! The Responsorial Psalm today also drops us a great hint. Our response is, “I love you, LORD, my strength” (Psalms 18:2)! When the LORD becomes our strength, how can we not love the LORD God with ALL our strength! The transformative power of Jesus shall tune our strength into God’s strength. Thus, the author of Hebrews is right in saying, “Therefore, He [Jesus] is always able to save those who approach God through Him” (Hebrews 7:25a).

Beloved brethren! Listen to the word of God and be stiff-necked no more. In the word of God, we will find salvation. Amen.
God bless!

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傳教事業，大功告成 Evangelization Mission Accomplished

追福系列（六）
傳教事業，大功告成（若6:37-40）

因着種種不便說明的原因，人世間是找不到「絕對公義」的。不少冤假錯案，政治迫害，今生今世是完全沒有平反的一日。但公義的天主是不會容許這些不公義永遠在祂面前存在，所以在末日有「公審判」，為被屈的人申冤！審判已死的人是毫無意義的政治鬧劇，所以到了末日，「在總領天使吶喊和天主的號聲響時，主要親自由天降來，那些死於基督內的人先要復活，然後我們這些活着還存留的人，同時與他們一起要被提到雲彩上，到空中迎接主」（得前4:16-17）。這是基督信仰的意見，其他宗教不必認同，它們自有處理「絕對公義」的辦法。

問題又來了，復活後的人都升到天上，與一眾仙家/先知相遇，包括佛祖、觀音、關帝、天后、穆罕默德、梅瑟、厄里亞等等，哪一個纔是公審判的主持人呢？當真正的主持人出場後，我們怎樣確定是屬於祂的人呢？保祿寫信給羅馬教會時，引用了先知的話，帶出一個很有意義的教訓。保祿說「的確，『凡呼號上主名號的人，必然獲救』」（羅10:13; 岳3:5）。即是說，我們必須認識並緊記上主的名號，尤其是在復活後不能夠忘記，在公審判時能說出！

接着保祿寫出一連串的推論，可以說是「福傳大憲章」。「但是，人若不信祂，又怎能呼號祂呢？從未聽到祂，又怎能信祂呢？沒有宣講者，又怎能聽到呢？若沒有奉派遣，人又怎能去宣講呢？」（羅10:14-15a）我們領洗成為基督徒，已經接受了耶穌基督的派遣（瑪28:19）。最低限度，我們也應該向自己的親友同事宣講天主的慈悲。相信與否已經不屬我們的責任了。這是天主聖神的工作，是天主子的承諾：「凡看見子，並信從子的，必獲得永生；並且在末日，我要使他復活」（若6:40） 。

親愛的兄弟姊妹，但願大家都能夠在末日，與心愛的人，共享永生。亞孟。
天主保祐！

生命恩泉

Gospel Chase (VI)
Evangelization Mission Accomplished (John 6:37-40)

For reasons which we should be prudent to remain reticent, we cannot find “absolute justice” on earth. Many people were wrongly convicted and politically persecuted, the opportunity for their wrongs rectified is next to zero. But the righteous God would not allow such injustice to exist forever before Him. Therefore, on the Last Day, there shall be a Last Judgment to straight the wrongs done to the oppressed! Judging the dead is a meaningless political show. Therefore, on the Last Day, “The Lord Himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). This is Christian faith which other religions might not buy. But they must have their ways to handle “absolute justice”.

Problem arises when after resurrection, all people would rise to the air. We will be meeting a lot of legendary dignitaries and prophets, including the Buddha, Guanyin, Guandi, Queen of Heaven, Muhammed, Moses and Elijah etc. Who would preside over the Last Judgment? When the real president emerges, how can we be sure that we belong to Him? When Paul wrote to the Romans, he brought up a very meaningful teaching. Paul says, “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved’” (Romans 10:13; Joel 3:5). That is to say, we should know and remember the name of the LORD. In particular, we cannot forget it after resurrection and must be able to call it out at the Last Judgment!

Then Paul wrote a sequence of deductions which can be coined as the “Magna Carta of Evangelization”, “But how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can people preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14-15a) When we were baptized as Christians, we were already commissioned by Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19). At least, we should proclaim God’s mercy to our relatives, friends and colleagues. Believe it or not is no longer our responsibility. This is the work of God the Holy Spirit, the pledge of the Son of God, “That everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day” (John 6:40).

Beloved brethren! May we enjoy eternal life with our beloved ones on the Last Day. Amen.
God bless!

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Picture Credit: eljasib.com

身教更有力 Actions Speak Louder Than Words

追福系列（五）
身教更有力（瑪5:1-12a）

擁有聖金口若望的神恩固然好，但傳福音不一定需要有能言善辯的口才，因為是聖神藉著你說話。的確，我們不完全理解我們的對象，我們真的不知道那一句說話能觸動到他們的心靈，接受天主對他們的慈悲。我認為傳福音，身教可能比言教更有力。

今天教會慶祝「諸聖節」，紀念前人為我們建立了的萬世基業。當中有不少無名英雄，他們走過成聖的道路，各式各樣，不一而足。他們也應該是福傳的成功人仕，對建樹天國作出過貢獻，所以天主子在天國為他們預備了一席位（若14:2-3）。他們成聖的道路，也是他們福傳的方法，他們以身作則，宣講福音的喜訊。

他們當中，有些人選擇了神貧的生活方式，不為世物所約束，自由自在地為更有價值的永生作見證；有些人雖然遭受不幸，以致終日以淚洗面，但他們仍然展示出天主的安慰和心靈的舒暢（詠94:19）；天主喜歡使競爭者相咬相吞，同歸於盡（迦5:15），讓溫良的人反而承受土地；天主喜歡為那些備受剝削的人出頭，祇要他們向祂呼求，天主便會使他們「飽享穀、麥、酒、油、小牛小羊；他們的心靈要好像受灌溉的田園，再也不感憔悴」（耶31:12）；憐憫人的人展現出天主慈悲的面容，讓身邊的人和自己，回心轉意，投奔上主，接受到天主的憐憫。一如經上記載：「因為上主你們的天主是慈悲的，是仁愛的；如果你們轉向祂，祂決不會轉面不顧你們」（編下30:9b）。人們不再有如舊約時代的以色列人一樣，害怕看見天主，以為看見天主的面容，必死無疑（出3:6; 申18:16; 民13:22; 列上19:13…）。懷著痛悔的心情，這樣的心怎會不潔淨呢？能夠懷著敬畏的心情，問心無愧，經常在上主面前行走，看見天主，真是指日可待！

親愛的兄弟姊妹，這些都是平凡的生活方式，跟著去做，足以成聖，足以福傳，一點也不困難。讓我們彼此互勉。
天主保祐！

生命恩泉

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Gospel Chase (V)
Actions Speak Louder Than Words (Matthew 5:1-12a)

Possessing the charisma of St. John Chrysostom is of course good but evangelization does not need an eloquent and persuasive tongue because it is the Holy Spirit who speaks through you. Indeed, we do not fully understand our target audience. We really don’t know which words are able to touch their soul and their heart to accept God’s mercy towards them. I opine that as far as evangelization is concerned, actions speak louder than words.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of All Saints to commemorate our predecessors who have laid down the foundation for the Kingdom of God. There have been many anonymous heroes whose paths of sanctification are different from each other’s. They should also be successful in evangelization and have contributed to the building up of the Kingdom of God. Thus the Son of God has prepared a room for them (John 14:2-3) in heaven. Their paths of sanctification must also be their means of evangelization. They proclaimed the good news of the Lord with their actions.

Among them, some chose to lead a life of spiritual poverty, not constrained by worldly possessions and bore witness in freedom to the more superior values of eternal life. Some suffered misfortunes and mourned all days but they were able to show God’s consolation and spiritual joy (Psalms 94:19). God likes to make competitors bite and devour one another (Galatians 5:15), leaving the meek to inherit the land. God likes to advocate for the exploited. When they call upon His name, they would enjoy, “The grain, the wine, and the oil, flocks of sheep and cattle; They themselves shall be like watered gardens, never again neglected” (Jeremiah 31:12). The merciful manifest God’s merciful countenance, help their neighbour together with themselves to repent and turn to the Lord and receive His mercy. As it is written, “The LORD, your God, is gracious and merciful and He will not turn away His face from you if you return to Him” (2 Chronicles 30:9b). People are no longer afraid to see the face of God like the Israelites were in the Old Testament. They thought that if they saw His face, they would surely die (Exodus 3:6; Deuteronomy 18:16; Judges 13:22; 1 Kings 19:13 …). How can a contrite heart not be pure? Walking with a pious fear before God without a guilty conscience, the day to see God can be numbered!

Beloved brethren! Those are just ordinary life styles. Following them would sanctify and evangelize. It is not difficult at all. Let us encourage and support each other.
God bless!

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