昔日文章

   Wow, we have completed another year’s issues of Joyful Youth. Your editor will be asking me whether I will write again next year. I am not sure. I think I am done writing for a while. In truth, I have never thought of myself as a writer. But, opportunity came when your editor proposed the project to me. I accepted then as a will of God to do something on your behalf. And how time flies. It has been five years. And I think I am done writing, for now.  You see, unlike many writers who like to write, I don’t. I like to teach, to preach, to talk. And when I do write, I stay with what I am familiar, the teachings of the Church. Many writers are good at applying them as commentaries to current situations. I am not very good at that. I am more comfortable within the topics of Church teachings. Don’t get me wrong. I have many opinions on many areas. I am just not comfortable to write them down as part of Church teachings.  As you can tell from these past five years’ writings, I am more of a topic writer. Aside from an occasional thought because of events or seasons, I am not very good at coming up with thoughts to express opinions based on Church teachings. That comes from my background as a teacher. I prepare classes by topics or subjects. And after five years, I am running out of topics that might be interesting to you or appropriate for you, the young readers.  If I were to continue on writing, I would need your input. You may ask some specific questions or request some particular topics to be covered. And based on your responses I will make my decision and reply to the editor. In other words, it is up to you.  I am not sure if I’ll get any response. I ask my parishioners to do the same for sermon topics or seminar ideas. I usually have 2 seminars a year, one for Advent and one for Lent. Very rarely do they make their thoughts known. As for sermons, a priest usually prepares them according to the seasons and the readings. Over the course of several years, many topics are repeated, though from different perspectives. But it would be helpful if he knows what someone would like to know. Then, when it is appropriate, he could include that in the sermon. But alas, it does not happen.  My primary concern, since becoming a priest, is how well day-to-day Catholics know their faith. It is my experience that most do not know it enough to stay untroubled when events and issues come up in the world or in conversations. Unless one is truly versed in the Church’s teaching, has taken the time to study the Catechism, one is easily swayed by what sounds good. Go back to the devil’s temptation of Adam and Eve in Gen. 3. Eve saw that the forbidden fruit was “pleasing to the eye and good for food.” So she ignored what God said and gave in to the devil’s reasoning. We seem to be going the same way when it comes to many popular issues.  What is a priest supposed to do? If he stays with the Church’s teaching, he is “conservative”, closed minded and unbendable. If he goes with the popular opinion, he is lauded and quoted. But, he will be betraying his responsibility and his mission to “teach them everything I have commanded you.” (Mt. 28:20)  So, if you think I should write more, let me know.  In the mean time, God bless. 

     In speaking of fatherhood, I am not excluding motherhood. In fact, one cannot be a father without a mother and children. That is implied in the word itself. It is strange to speak about single mothers and fathers. Only in very sad circumstances like the death of a spouse, would they “naturally” become single parents. Others choose to become single by breaking the natural bond and the responsibility they have to their children. Children just do not come naturally without both a father and a mother! DAH!  When speaking of parenthood, the Church is always talking about the complementary roles of both fathers and mothers. The husband and wife bring into the family unique gifts of themselves to form a union from which children experience this self-giving nature of love.  But this is not unique to the Catholic Church. Every culture, especially our Chinese culture, has maintained this notion of marriage and parenting until the last 70 or so years. What we are experiencing in our society, both East and West, is really very new and, I am very convinced, is not yet over. We seem to be in a cloud of confusion over what is a human “right” and what is truly “good.” We seem to think that if one can give a convincingly sounding argument then one must be right (as in correct) and, therefore, must have the “right” (as in something owed me) to do.  However, this is exactly what parents DO NOT do. They do not think of what is owed them. They spend themselves because they love their children. It is for that we celebrate Father’s and Mother’s Day in the first place.  Young people, be careful of the messages you hear in the world today. Try to see through the falsehood, indeed lies, pumped through the media, particularly the comedic portrayal of parents. In the United States, most TV shows and movies are not really worth watching. I have not been to movies except for very rare occasions. We are relegated to watching the action movies or those with spectacular computer generated graphics for special effects. I cannot even remember when was the last time I recommended a movie to my parishioners because of its positive message on Christian virtues. And this poverty in our entertainment has a real influence in society.  A second influence is the way society put pressure on working parents to have higher productivity in the job at the expense of their role as first educators of their children. Family meals are eaten in hurry. Uncertainty and unreliability become the routine. The home as an environment of stability and security is no longer. Children are made to share the burden when they see their parents loaded down with the problems of the day.  I can still remember when I was growing up that every Sunday is set aside to spend with my family. When I asked my dad for his permission to became Catholic, he only maintained that I was NOT excused from family events to go to Church. Luckily, it was in 1970 when Saturday evening Mass was already available. The Sunday trips to the New Territories or Lantau Island were not interrupted. Some Sundays I could go to early Mass before going out to Dim Sum.  What I am saying here is that parents have a much greater burden to bear in the face of the world that is bent on trading profit over the welfare of the families.  Young people, be very supportive of your parents. They have a tough balancing act to still be good parents to you. Help them to fulfill their vocation. Pray for them, daily. 

  In this article I would like to make some recommendations on web sites that have good solid Catholic teachings and resources. Notice that I do not put http or www in front of the address because it is normally not needed anymore. I also capitalize parts of the web address for easier reading.  First and foremost:  Vatican _ Vatican.va  Here you will find all the teachings of the Church, the sermons of the popes and even a virtual tour of the Vatican museum.  Hong Kong Diocese  天主教香港教區 Catholic.org.hk  Taiwan Chinese Catholic conference  天主教會台灣地區主教團 Catholic.org.tw  Sites with Chinese material:  天主教香港教區——教理中心  dcc.Catholic.org.hk/testing  Here you will find all kinds of material including:  《天主教教理簡編》(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church)  方濟會思高讀經推廣中心  ccReadBible.org  《天主教教理》（Chinese Catholic Catechism)  《思高聖經》（Chinese Bible)  Mary Help of China  mhChina.net  Here, you will find many prayers in Chinese.  梁達材神父 FrPeterLeung.com  Father Anthony Ho （何庭耀神父）, Vancouver.  FatherAnthonyHo.wordpress.com  Fountain of Love and Life （生命恩泉）  FLL.cc  This is from their web site:  “Fountain of Love and Life (FLL) is a Catholic multi-media evangelization ministry. …. Our work includes TV and radio productions, music production, publications, evangelization events, etc.”  Their programs are now online for download.  Apps for ipad and other tablets and devices:  《禮儀小百科》LiturgyPedia  《我靈讚頌主》iBreviarium  Sites with English material  For general daily articles:  CatholicExchange.com  New Advent  NewAdvent.org  This site has the entire Catholic Encyclopedia online. It is an earlier edition but still extremely useful.  Catholic Answers  Catholic.com  This site is for those interested in apologetics （護教學）. Here you will find the best articles on explaining the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church that are questioned by non- Catholics. You will also find videos and podcasts here.  Coming Home Network  CHNetwork.org  This site has many conversion stories, written, audio and video. A small number are called reverts, those who grew up Catholic, left the Church, and came back.  Eternal Word Television Network  EWTN.com  EWTN began is a Catholic TV network in Alabama, USA. You will find online TV programming as well as resources on articles. You can search in the document library or the audio visual libraries by keyword.  Bishop Fulton Sheen  FultonSheen.com  Here you will find many mp3 talks by the famous Bishop Sheen. Bishop Sheen was auxiliary bishop of New York City where he also hosted a TV show in the 1950’s. His talks are still very on topic for us today.  Word On Fire  WordOnFire.com    Fr. Robert Barron is the rector of the seminary of the Archdiocese of Chicago. He is famous for his DVD series “Catholicism”. At this site you will find audio and video material you can purchase or order. The articles are free. 

   I would recommend reading books by C. S. Lewis. The most famous for young people is his set of books “Chronicles of Narnia.” As you may recognize the title, they were made into movies. The background was set in World War II England and the adventures of three children. In their adventure, they encountered Jesus as Aslan, the Lion. The stories are filled with Catholic theology including the Passion, the Sacraments, etc.  C.S. Lewis was Anglican and never converted to the Catholic Faith. He lived in England during the Second World War. He had great reservations the direction the Anglican Church was heading and the deteriorations of England society in his time. He wrote articles on issues of the time. They are published in the books “God in the Dock” and “Mere Christianity.” I recommend both books though “Mere Christianity” has lengthier chapters.  In “God in the dock”, Lewis posed the situation where God was put on trial. The “dock” is the place where the accused stands during trial.  A seller said it this way:  “God in the Dock” contains forty-eight essays and twelve letters written by Lewis between 1940 and 1963 for a wide variety of publications. Ranging from popular newspaper pieces to learned defenses of the faith, these essays cover topics as varied as the logic of theism, good and evil, miracles and ethics and politics.”  Screwtape Letters  In this book, Lewis led us on an inside look at what the devil might say to his disciple in his endeavor to deceive us. The one thing to keep in mind, when reading this book, is that everything has to read backwards. The devil would refer to Satan as Father Below. The one to be deceived is called the patient. It is really fascinating. If you prefer to read this in Chinese, the translated title is 《魔鬼家書》.  The next set of books is “A.D. Chronicles” by Brock and Bodie Thoene. The Thoene’s wrote this set of 12 books - I am not sure if the series has completed – based on the Gospels. They took the many unnamed characters in the Gospels and gave them names and background and fictionalized their encounter with Jesus. They did a great job of researching the social condition of the time and gave us a glimpse of the personal experience of these characters. Mel Gibson did a tremendous job with the movie “Passion of the Christ.” Thoene’s give us a different view. One note of caution: the Thoene’s are non-Catholic Christians. So they have some preconceived notions based on their own background. Unlike Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” which is misleading and filled with historical error, “AD Chronicles” is very helpful with understanding the times and events in the life of Jesus.  Another fictional book worth reading is James Michener’s “The Source.” This is not an easy read for younger people. But for those interested in archeology, this is a great book. It centers on a well in the Holy Land. Michener, like all his historical novels, goes back to prehistoric times and recreates a sequence of events based in history and takes us through a journey in time and space. It would be like reading a book on how the terra cotta tomb of Qin Shi Huang or the Great Wall was built. This is a very good book to get a glimpse of archeology and historical background of the Middle East.    Many of these books are available at the library.