昔日文章

  It is that time of the year again.  Time really flies.  A year ago my bishop called me back early from Taiwan because one of the priests was very sick and he wanted me to take over his parish for Lent（四旬期）.  Reluctantly, but obediently, I came back.  Now, a year and a different parish assignment later, I am preparing to enter the beautiful Lenten season to reflect on the sublime love of Jesus. Time flies.   What does that mean?  How does it fly?  It is a figure of speech, of course, but still an interesting thought. When one is having a wonderful time, time just moves right along.  When one is having a difficult time, a painful time, it S-L-O-W-S down.  It even C-R-A-W-L-S. How about a H-E-A-V-Y thought?  How does a thought that has no “thing” gets heavy?  Or gets LIGHT? Think about a pizza!  Can you see it?  Can you weigh it in the hands of your mind?  Can you smell it?  Can you taste it?  Yet, it is not, somehow, sticking out of your head ! Think about a dumbbell or a feather. Isn’t it fascinating to WEIGH these “things”? Philosophers tell us that this is exactly what makes us human beings, this ability to think abstractly.  And abstraction is NOT UNREAL! Another related thought – MEMORY!  Think of a wonderful time or a sad time with a friend.  Is something we remember merely a thought and therefore no longer real?  It is over and only exists in our mind, so is it therefore not truly important? Think about our great-great-grandfathers.  I am sure none of you knew who they were when they were alive.  Because they lived, we are alive today.  Or, another way of looking at it, because we are here, they really lived.  We are the proof of their existence. Remember Dr. Sun Zhong Shan（孫中山先生）, our national father（國父）?  Is he only a great man in history, in our memory?  Well, yes, but more.  Our very existence is different because of what he did.  The Qing Dynasty is no longer.  History is not only something that happened a long time ago.  History makes our present time the way it is.  Life has changed.  We cannot know what it would otherwise be like because we cannot undo what history has done. I was in Rome about 10 years ago.  As I was walking the streets there and thinking about the martyrs that lived 2000 years ago, the thought came to me that the martyrs are really here because without them the Church would not be here.  Blessed Pope John Paul II was a great man, but only because he stood on the shoulder of giants who followed Jesus and gave their lives for their faith.  Even the church buildings in Rome speak loudly of the faith of the martyrs.   It is this kind of REALITY we think about when we remember Jesus’ Suffering and Death during Lent.  His Passion changed the world.  When He said, at the Last Supper, “Do this in MEMORY of me!” it means much more than a thought of the event that exists now only in our mind.  The Church uses the term “RE-PRESENT”, present again.  At Mass, the Last Supper is REALLY PRESENT to us.  Isn’t that amazing? As we go through this Lenten season, I would like to suggest to you to keep this REALITY of Jesus’ Passion, Death and Resurrection（耶穌的苦難、死亡和復活）in your daily thoughts.  Know that we are different because He did die for us.  We are different because He still loves us. Have a blessed Lent !    

  “I can do it by myself!” is our little boy’s pet phrase whenever he wants to do many things by himself. He loves to watch and copy what he sees “big people” doing. He wants to be like “big people” brushing teeth, using scissors and talking over the phone. When he finds such household chores as washing up plates a lot of fun, he will say excitedly, “Let me help you.” Then when his Dad is washing up, he lets him stand next to him on a stool and washes some plastic cups and spoons. In this way, we hope that he will get interested in household tasks which are important for his independence as he grows up. What housework do you help out with? A recent survey in Hong Kong showed that over 80% of Primary 3 to 6 students and parents interviewed considered self-care skills “very unimportant” or “unimportant”. A lot of students have poor self-care ability in that they are unable to take public transport on their own in their residential areas, cook rice, tie shoelaces or cut fingernails. What are your views on the importance of self-care skills? Perhaps a lot of us think that studying hard is more important than learning self-care skills. However, in reality, we all need basic life skills and self-care abilities. Otherwise, we will have low self-images and probably grow up to be unable to solve problems and overcome setbacks in the future. So, let’s be “big boys” and “big girls” who are good at self-care, not just school work! Glossary: Household chores: 家務 Self-care skills: 自理技能 Residential areas: 住宅區 Basic life skills: 基本生活技能 Self-images: 自我形象  

  A couple of Sundays ago, Jan 22, the first reading was from the book of the prophet Jonah 《約納先知書》.  We are very familiar with the story.  I have two things for you to think about. First, why did Jonah get swallowed by a whale?  Because he did not want to go to Nineveh.  Why?  Because Nineveh was the capitol of Assyria, and Assyria was the enemy of Israel.  Why would Jonah want the Assyrians to repent and not be punished (think “wiped out”) by God?  Hurray.  Go do it, God.  So Jonah would not go.  But God WANTS them to be saved.  And God insisted.  That is the background of the story. Second, most people stop reading after the first 3 chapters.  The most interesting part is in chapter 4.  Take the time to read it now, or else the next paragraphs will not make sense.  (pause) So what does it say? ‘Then the LORD said, “You are concerned over the gourd plant which cost you no effort and which you did not grow; it came up in one night and in one night it perished. And should I not be concerned over the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot know their right hand from their left, not to mention all the animals?”’  (vs 10,11) God cares for all people, including our enemies, because He created all of us.  We are His children regardless of race, ethnicity….. The story of Jonah is not simply about his being swallowed up by a giant fish.  It is about: 1. God wants to save the world, eventually sending His Son Jesus to die on the Cross. 2. God wants us to love even our enemies. 3. God will even use someone like Jonah, who did NOT want to do His Will, to be His prophet. So really, we have no excuses, if we believe in Jesus, even when we are not willing or obedient.  He wants us do His work of Love and Salvation. On a more timely application to this lesson, let us look at the issues of ecology（生態學）, environmental protection（環保）and abortion （人工流產，墮胎）.   Sunday, January 22, 2011, marked the 39th anniversary of the legalization of abortion in the US in 1973.  In Hong Kong, abortion became legal on Feb 17, 1981. To be honest, when I was growing up in Hong Kong I knew about abortion but did not think much about it.  It was just there.  I did not consider whether it was right or wrong.  It had nothing to do with me and this was before it was legalized. I first thought about it when it became legal while I was at the university in US.  We were discussing it and listening to what the Church had to say. Even today, most discussions involve the issues of the rights of the woman to choose, to decide for herself about her own body.  Other discussions are about the circumstances of the pregnancy, the supposed population “explosion” etc…  (It is certainly not about our sinful misuse of the gift of sexuality by one or both parties that resulted in a non-desired condition of having a baby.) I would just like to know what did the innocent baby do to deserve such a horrible death?  In this day and age, where we are so concerned with the preciousness of the environment and green earth, we simply ignore the preciousness of a human life.  We treat a baby worse than the worst enemy of society.   We are thinking like Jonah, of our own self interests. Jesus wants more from us.  He wants us to love one another as He has loved us.    

  Happy New Year! On the last day at nursery last year, our little boy brought home some New Year handicraft. On the picture below this article, you can see his photo, a 2012 calendar, his handprint with five little snowmen, one on top of each finger, and a short poem which reads as follows: There aren’t just 5 little snowmen as anyone can see, I made them with my hands which is a part of me.  So when I’m grown and older, you will look back and recall,  the Christmas of 2011, when my hand was just this small!!!   Isn’t this a lovely poem? If you ask our little boy what he wants most, he will tell you that he wants to be as big as Daddy.  Every one of us wants to start afresh and make new goals in our life. That is why we begin each year by making resolutions. Have you made yours yet? Before we decide on how we want 2012 to be different from 2011, let’s reflect on our strengths and weaknesses in academic performance, personality development and physical health in the past year first. Then set some specific and attainable goals for 2012 that you want to achieve. For example, I resolve to read a story book each month; I resolve to be nice to other kids; I resolve to limit computer games. A study has shown that we can keep our resolutions if we break our goal into smaller steps and reward ourselves when we achieve one of these. Some other successful techniques include telling our family and friends about our goals and keeping a diary of our progress. Let’s hope that we can stick to our resolutions throughout the whole year.   Glossary: New Year's Resolutions: 新年新決心 Strengths: 長處 Weaknesses: 弱點 Academic performance: 學業成績 Personality development: 人格發展