The "Spiritual Conversation Formation Gathering" (in English) by the Diocese will be hosted on Zoom platform on 20 Feb 2022 at 3:00 – 5:15 PM.

Through baptism, we became members of the body of Christ, brothers and sisters of the Lord, and children of God. In our journey through life, we either stay faithful to that vocation and identity, or abandon it (sometimes we go back and forth).

In this Gospel passage, Christ gives us the sign that tells us whether we are living up to our vocation, the touchstone of the true Christian. It isn't vast theological knowledge, or personal charm, or professional success. Nor is it ecstasies in prayer or extreme penances.

Rather, the identifying mark of a Christian is treating others - all others - the way God does, the way God treats us. God is kind and merciful "even to the ungrateful and the wicked." If we are his children, his followers, we will be too.

We will be quick to forgive, to make excuses for others, to avoid judging and condemning them. We will think well of others, speak well of them, and treat them like the children of God that they truly are.

But Jesus doesn't just tell us what we're supposed to do in life, he also tells us why.

We are created in God's image, and God is love; his very divine nature is all about self-giving. So, the more we develop our capacity for love, for authentic, self-forgetful love, the more we will mature into what God created us to be.

And just as a mature, healthy apple tree bears abundant fruit, so a mature, healthy human soul overflows with the spiritual fruits of profound joy, peace, and enthusiasm. This is what Jesus means when he says, "give, and gifts will be given to you".

If we are true Christians, treating all others as we would like them to treat us, as God has treated us, we will be truly happy.

Mother Theresa Lights a Lamp

Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta was someone who learned this lesson perfectly. Once she was staying with her community of sisters who were working with the Aborigines in Australia.

While she was there, she visited an elderly man who lived in total isolation, ignored by everyone. His home was disordered and dirty.

She told him, "Please let me clean your house, wash your clothes and make your bed." He answered, "I'm OK like this. Let it be." She said, "You will be still better if you allow me to do it."

He finally agreed. So, she was able to clean his house and wash his clothes. While she was cleaning, she discovered a beautiful lamp, covered with dust. It looked like it hadn't been used in years.

She said to the man, "Don't you light that lamp? Don't you ever use it?" He answered, "No. No one comes to see me. I have no need to light it. Who would I do it for?" Mother Theresa asked, "Would you light it every night if the sisters came?" He replied, "Of course." From that day on, the sisters committed themselves to visiting him every evening.

Mother Theresa left Australia. Two years passed. She had completely forgotten about that man. Then she received a message from him: "Tell my friend that the light she lit in my life continues to shine still."

That's what it means to be a true Christian: to give, to forgive, to bless, to stop judging, to stop condemning, to stop complaining, and to start lighting lamps... In other words, to be like Christ. And that's what brings happiness to our lives and to the world.

[story adapted from Voices of the Saints by Bert Ghezzi]

Emotional Damage Control

It is hard for us to be true to Christ's standard. One reason it's so hard is because our culture gives so much emphasis to emotions. Our society tells us that whenever we feel a strong emotion, we are supposed to act on it.

When you're angry, express yourself. When you're sad, let it flow. When you're in the mood for fun, go with it. If you don't, the modern psychologists tell us, you will "repress your inner self".

On this point, the modern psychologists are flat out wrong. Emotions are blind. They come and go without our permission, like the weather. If we let them drive our lives, we will never have stability. We will never grow up; we'll be like babies forever.

We need to govern our lives by the principles of our faith.These don't change.They are true and dependable.Following them gives us stability, wisdom, and maturity.

Emotions are like the wind at sea. They can help or hinder the boat's progress. Principles are like the deep ocean currents: they drive us towards our destination no matter the weather.

Here are two ways to work on governing our emotions, so we can better follow Christ's command to treat others - all others - as we would have them treat us:

1. Never make a decision in the midst of an emotional storm. Wait for your anger, sadness, or jubilation to calm down before you write that email, make that phone call, or decide what you are going to do. The storm will pass; you just have to be patient.
2. When the other person is experiencing an emotional storm, pull in your sails; don't let the storm become contagious - that's when hurricanes happen.

Let's ask Jesus to give us strength to govern our emotions, so that this week we can be better Christians, more authentic Christians, stable and constant in our kindness, patience, and generosity. That's what will make Jesus happy, it's what will make us happy, and it's what this world needs most.

For us Christians, blessings have taken on an even greater meaning through Christ who perfectly revealed to us the goodness and love of God. St. Paul wrote, "Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing." Jesus blessed those He encountered: the little children (Mark 10:13-16) and the apostles at the ascension (Luke 24:50-53). He blessed objects: the loaves used to feed the 5000 (Mark 6:34ff) and the bread at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:26-30). Since Christ entrusted His saving ministry to the Church, it has instituted various blessings for people as well as objects to prompt the faithful to implore God's protection, divine assistance, mercy, faithfulness, and favor.

Who can do a blessing? The Catechism states, "Every baptized person is called to be a 'blessing,' and to bless. Hence lay people may preside at certain blessings; the more a blessing concerns ecclesial and sacramental life, the more is its administration reserved to the ordained ministry (bishops, priests, or deacons)" (#1669). Priests are the ordinary ministers of blessings, asking God's help for those people being blessed or dedicating something to a sacred service; the priest's blessing is imparted with the weight of the Church and therefore has great value in the eyes of God. The blessing of a layperson upon another, such as a parent blessing a child, is an act of goodwill whereby the person implores God's aid for the person; the value of this blessing in the eyes of God depends upon the person's individual sincerity and sanctity.

This is Jesus' first big sermon in the Gospel of Luke. His inaugural address. And it's shocking. The topic is happiness (being blessed), and in a total reversal of ordinary standards, Jesus links true happiness with struggle, hardship, suffering and opposition, not with the prosperity, popularity, and pleasure that we normally associate with happiness.

What does he mean by this? Jesus isn't saying that the good things of life are evil - not at all. They are God's gifts and we are meant to enjoy them. But he is saying that they cannot satisfy our desire for happiness. And so, if we put our trust in them, as Jeremiah says in the first reading, our lives will wither and harden, like tumbleweeds in the desert. No roots, and no fruits.

Rather, Jesus is teaching us that the true path to happiness in this fallen world is paved with life's challenges and hardships.

These remind us that this world is passing and imperfect, that the only dependable thing in life is our friendship with God. Hardships and challenges teach us to root our lives in the rich soil of knowing, loving, and serving him; then our lives will be like a flourishing tree, with strong roots and luscious fruits.

This lesson has to be re-learned continually. Because of our fallen nature, we always tend to think we can find heaven on earth by putting together just the right combination of possessions, praise, and power. But we can't, as our Lord makes perfectly clear.

We are members of the Church militant for as long as we journey here on earth, and that means we need to keep our armor on and our supply lines protected, lest we fall into the enemy's traps.

St Teresa of Avila Falls in the Mud (humorous)

St Luke tells us that a great crowd had gathered from all over Palestine. It must have been like the World Youth Day gatherings with the Pope: a whole stadium full of people: rich and poor, the suffering, the curious, the young, the old - all looking hopefully up at Jesus.

And Jesus "fixes his eyes on them", St Luke tells us. The eyes of God looking into the eyes of regular people just like you and me. What was in Jesus' heart? How glad he must have been that they were there to hear him!

And what is his message? Blessed are you who are poor, who are hungry, who weep... For to you belongs the Kingdom of heaven. He tells them that he is at work in the midst of their sufferings. That he knows about them, and that they have a purpose.

Every saint learns this lesson. St Theresa of Avila was the great reformer of Carmelite Order. She spent the last years of her life traveling extensively, as she laid the foundation for seventeen discalced Carmelite convents throughout sixteenth century Spain. On one of these trips, as she was getting out of a carriage after a long, tiring journey in the rain, she slipped and fell in a large mud puddle. Her nice clean habit was soaked and dripping with mire. Exasperated, she prayed, "Lord, why do you do these things to me when I'm only trying to help you?" Jesus answered her prayer, saying, "This is how I treat all my close friends." Teresa retorted, "Then it's no wonder you have so few!"

But it's true. Jesus loves us too much to let us deceive ourselves into thinking that we can have heaven on earth. He is always trying to remind us of our true destination.

Exercising Our Faith

It takes faith to accept this teaching of Christ. Faith is for our Christian lives what natural intelligence is for our natural lives.

We received natural intelligence when we were given life. It enables us to know, understand, and learn things about the world around us. It enables us to write poems and read books, unlike animals and plants, which don't have this kind of intelligence.

When we were baptized, God gave a new kind of intelligence - faith. This enables us to see things from God's perspective. Faith allows us to perceive God's love behind the beauty of a sunset, God's presence in the Eucharist, God's wisdom at work in suffering.

And just as we need to exercise our natural intelligence if we want it to grow and mature, we have to exercise this gift of faith too.

The hardships of every day are the best opportunities to exercise our faith. When things go our way, we don't have to exercise faith to accept them - natural intelligence is enough. When they don't go our way, then natural intelligence is not enough. We have to say: I don't know where you're taking me, Lord, but I know you're still in charge. [Here you can make reference to the illustration you used...]

Sickness, betrayal, accidents, money problems, rejection, being made fun of because of our Christian standards - these things make us blessed, because in them we can exercise our faith in Christ. They make us more like Christ, who saved us by suffering all these things himself.

Let's remind ourselves that earth is not heaven. Let's ask Jesus to teach us to live by this supernatural intelligence, so that it can be a sturdy lighthouse guiding us along this earthly road heaven. Lord, increase our faith!

Blessings come under the category of sacramentals. A sacramental is a special prayer, action, or object which, through the prayers of the Church, prepares a person to receive grace and to better cooperate with it. For example, we make the sign of the cross using Holy Water when entering a Church: That pious action and the Holy Water itself, which together remind us of our Baptism, awaken us to the presence of God and dispose us to receiving God's grace. Unlike a sacrament, a sacramental does not itself confer the grace of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, like a sacrament, a sacramental helps the faithful to sanctify each moment of life and to live in the Paschal mystery of our Lord.

Among the sacramentals, blessings would be foremost. In the decree publishing the Book of Blessings, Cardinal Mayer, then prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, wrote, "The celebration of blessings holds a privileged place among all the sacramentals created by the Church for the pastoral benefit of the people of God. As a liturgical action, the celebration leads the faithful to praise God and prepares them for the principal effect of the sacraments. By celebrating a blessing, the faithful can also sanctify various situations and events in their lives." Blessings are signs to the faithful of the spiritual benefits achieved through the Church's intercession.

Throughout Sacred Scripture, we find how God issued various blessings: In the Genesis account of creation, God blessed all the living creatures and especially Adam and Eve, telling them to be fertile, to multiply, and to fill the earth and subdue it (cf. Genesis 1:22, 28). After the flood, God blessed Noah and his sons (Genesis 9:1ff). The patriarchs administered blessings, particularly to the eldest son, signifying a bestowing of God's benevolence, peace, and protection. In a similar vein, the Lord spoke to Moses and commanded the following blessing for all the Israelites: "The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!" (Numbers 6:22-27). The people also blessed God, praising His goodness shown through creation, as illustrated in the beautiful hymn of praise in the Book of Daniel (3:52-90). The Preface for Eucharistic Prayer IV captures well this understanding of a blessing: "Father in Heaven…, source of life and goodness, you have created all things, to fill your creatures with every blessing and lead all men to the joyful vision of your light." 

Those who enter the church must take the following epidemic prevention measures:

1. Scan the "Leave Home Safe" QR code / register your name and phone number to record your visit.
2. Always wear mask. If you sneeze or cough, cover your mouth and nose with a tissue, then dispose sensibly.
3. Body temperature must be screened.
4. Use hand sanitizer to clean hands.
5. Those present should keep a social distance of at least 1.5 meters from each other.
6. Do not step on the kneeling stool of the church.

In accordance with the latest instructions from both the government and the Diocese, the pastoral measures of the parish suspending public mass and minimizing physical gatherings will continue to be in effect until further notice.

• Monday, Wednesday, and Friday| 09:15 - 10:15 AM| English
• Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday| 09:15 - 10:15 AM| Cantonese
• Sunday| 10:45 - 11:45 AM| English
• Sunday| 09:30 - 10:30 AM| Cantonese

We all know why Jesus came to earth. He came to redeem the fallen world, to pay the price for our sins, to lead every member of the human family back into friendship with God. We all know that, and we don't usually forget about it.

But we do sometimes forget that Jesus doesn't want to do all the work himself. As St Augustine used to say, although God created us without us, he won't save us without us.

In other words, he has chosen to accomplish his mission of salvation with our cooperation. Every one of us, since the moment of our baptism, has been called by God to be co-missionaries with Jesus Christ.

This is why, in today's First Reading, the prophet Isaiah hears God ask the question: "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" God wants us to participate in his mission of salvation. He gives us a chance to join him in building up the eternal Kingdom. All we have to do is say, with Isaiah, "Here I am! Send me!"

The encounter between Jesus and his first Apostles in today's Gospel gives us the same message. First, Jesus asks Peter to lend him his boat, so that he can have a better podium for addressing the huge crowds. That boat was Peter's livelihood, his life.

Jesus also wants to speak to the desperate, discouraged crowds of today's world from our boats, from the words, deeds, and example of our lives. And then, after the miraculous catch of fish, Jesus invites Peter to follow him and become "fishers of men," co-missionaries.

Christ's mission is to save the world, but he is no Lone Ranger; he has chosen to depend on a volunteer army of co-missionaries – Peter, James, John, and each and every one of us.

This is one of the reasons that we call the Church "apostolic" when we recite the creed.The word "apostle" comes from the Greek for "to be sent out." The first Twelve Apostles were sent out into the world as Jesus' co-missionaries. But they weren't the only ones; the whole Church, us included, is apostolic. Here's how the Catechism explains it:

863 The whole Church is apostolic, in that she remains, through the successors of St. Peter and the other apostles, in communion of faith and life with her origin: and in that she is "sent out" into the whole world. All members of the Church share in this mission, though in various ways. "The Christian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well." Indeed, we call an apostolate "every activity of the Mystical Body" that aims "to spread the Kingdom of Christ over all the earth."

Key Requirement for the Mission: Humility

Why did Jesus choose to require co-missionaries to save the world? Not because the job was too much for him; after all, as God he is all-powerful. Rather, because he knew that we needed a mission, a purpose in life that reaches behind the fleetingness of earthly life and plugs us into eternity.

He knows we need a transcendent meaning, because that's how he designed us when he created us "in his own image." We will only find fulfilment if we accept this invitation to be active co-missionaries in the service of Christ's eternal Kingdom. Most of us here today have already accepted the invitation. But we may not be as fully engaged in the mission as we should be. And if that's the case, we may not be experiencing to the full the meaning God wants us to experience.

What could be holding us back? It could be that the key ingredient for our calling to be Christ's co-missionaries is in low supply. That ingredient is humility.

Isaiah only heard God's call and received the grace to accept it after he recognized that by himself, he was unworthy to do so, that he was a man of "unclean lips."

Peter only understood Christ's call and received the courage to follow it after he discovered and admitted his own sinfulness: "Depart from me!" he told the Lord after the miraculous catch, "because I am a sinful man."

And in today's Second Reading, St Paul shows that he too had to learn the lesson of humility: "I am not fit to be called an apostle," he admitted, but then added "by the grace of God I am what I am."

That same grace of God will come to us in this Mass, and it can transform our lives too, in spite of all our limitations – if we are willing to let it. 

We have just heard some of the most beautiful words in all of Sacred Scripture. God spoke to them to the prophet Jeremiah more than two thousand years ago, but that same God – our Lord – made sure that they weren't forgotten when Jeremiah died.

He inspired the sacred writer to record them for all time. He wanted to make sure that we would hear those same words spoken to us, twenty-five centuries later.

That's what the Bible is, remember: God's inspired and living word, meant to enlighten, encourage, and strengthen each one of us in every situation of our lives. And if we let these incredible words really penetrate our hearts today, that's exactly what will happen.

Which words am I referring to?

These: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I dedicated you."

Let us read them again, pausing after the word "you," so that each of us can insert there our first name, because that's how God wants us to hear these words: "Before I formed you [pause] in the womb I knew you [pause], before you [pause] were born I dedicated you [pause]."

None of us is here just by chance, as the Darwinists want us to believe. None of us is an unwanted mistake, as the pro-abortionists would like us to believe. None of us is a just a toy or experimental product manufactured by scientists, as the cloning-advocates and artificial reproduction companies seem to think.

Each one of us is a beloved, desired child of the living, eternal, all-wise, all-powerful God of the universe.

We have received our existence directly from him; if from all eternity he had not yearned for our friendship and envisioned a lasting purpose for each of us, we would not be here.

That is the dignity of human life – every human life, mine and yours included.

Spreading the Good News

This truth, that every human being is desired and loved by God for our own sake, that he yearns for the friendship of every person and has a transcendent purpose in mind for each human being, is at the very core of Christ's revelation.

But today's globalized world is in danger of losing sight of this truth because popular culture is no longer Christian. It tends to value human beings by externals: according to how much money they can make, or how athletic they are, or how beautiful they are.

Therefore, evils like abortion, euthanasia, and forced population control are not lessening, but spreading. The old law of the jungle is starting to re-emerge, and justice is being sacrifice – the strong, instead of helping the weak, are simply dominating them.

When a scientist in a laboratory creates, experiments on, and then disposes of the most vulnerable human beings, like tiny human embryos or babies in the womb, that's exactly what's happening.

Today, the Church is reminding us that we, the ones who do know the true source of human dignity, are called to do something about it.

We are like Jeremiah: God has sent us into this world not just to survive in it, but to transform it. "Stand up and tell them all that I command you," God said to Jeremiah, and he says the same thing to us.

With our example, our words, and our creative and active efforts to promote true human dignity, we can and must spread God's light and follow the "still more excellent way," as St Paul calls it in today's Second Reading, of Christ-like love.

It may be hard and uncomfortable at times, but God promises to guide us: "They will fight against you but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD."

This week, convinced that every human being matters eternally to God, let's give him a chance to put his money where his mouth is. 

In his book Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI asks a surprising question. He asks "What did Jesus actually bring?"

Think about it. We still have wars. We still have famine. People still suffer. People still get sick and die. So, what did Jesus actually bring?

And Pope Benedict answers the question by saying: "Jesus brought us God. Jesus brings us God."

We believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man. He is God made visible for us, and he came to give us life. He came to set us free so that we could be truly alive.

In other words, Jesus is much more than a social worker. He's not a nice guy who came to teach us a few useful things about living together in harmony. He's not a philosopher who gives us a theory about life. He's not a politician who promises to fulfill every wish we could ever have.

Jesus is a savior. The gospel today brings this out with startling clarity. Jesus says that he has been anointed to "proclaim liberty to captives and to let the oppressed go free."

In the Bible, anointing meant that you were chosen and given a special power by God. So, Jesus is very serious when he says this. He is a savior who comes to set us free. He comes to bring us back to God.

Let's be honest: we can't save ourselves. Sometimes we find ourselves wondering why we seem to commit the same sins over and over again. Sometimes we all say with St Paul: "I don't do the good I want to do, I do the evil I don't want to do."

Caryll Houselander tells the following story in the Reed of God. "Through sin we forget what God looks like... I once saw an old, old woman shaking the photograph of her long-dead husband, while tears, which seemed literally to hiss from her eyes, blistered it. 'It won't speak to me', she said, "and I have forgotten his face." Sin is like that. We forget what God looks like.

Who will save us from this? Who will give us the strength to be able to love? Who will remind us what God looks like? Who will give peace and rest to our hearts? Jesus. He is truly a savior.

A savior brings hope

Sometimes we can get used to being Christians. We can lose sight of how a relationship with Christ as our savior changes our lives.

When the first Christian missionaries arrived in Britain at the beginning of the 7th century, some of them went to visit the pagan King Edwin of Northumbria. After listening to the monk Paulinus, Edwin asked his chief advisors for advice about how to proceed. Should they become Christians or not?

One of his advisors replied with the following parable. Imagine a cold winter night. Howling gusts of wind tear through the darkness, and snow falls furiously upon the roof of a banqueting hall.

Inside the hall a roaring fire provides warmth and light for the merrymakers. Suddenly, a sparrow flies in through one door of the hall and out through another. In the hall the bird is warm and safe, but once he flies out, he disappears and no one knows where he has gone. The king's counselor said that we are that sparrow, and the hall is this present life. We don't know what came before it, and we don't know what comes after it.

But, he concluded, if this Christ reveals to us what comes before and what comes after, it seems right that we should follow him. As our savior, Jesus frees us from darkness and doubt. He sets us free from fear.

The Jesus Prayer

It's hard to stay focused on God throughout the day. There are so many distractions: traffic, emails, social media, etc.It is easy to forget where we come from and where we are going.

The early monks had a prayer they used to say. It's called the Jesus Prayer, and it's a wonderful way to stay in contact with Christ as our savior.

It's simple: "Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner." Just 12 words, but they will change the rhythm of our day. "Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner."

As we prepare to receive Christ in the Eucharist, let's speak those words from the heart: "Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner."

Let's make them part of our daily lives. In the car, in the bus, in the MTR, in the elevator, or while waiting in line in the store we can say those words: "Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner."

When we're frustrated or filled with doubt, we can say those words: "Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner." When we're weighed down by our own sins or the sins of others, we can pray those words: "Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner." And Jesus does. 

The mother church reminds us that, as members, we need to walk together and journey together.  Walking together means deepening our faith and knowledge together. For this reason, St. Anne's Church will start regular Bible Study, and we are seeking more people to be team members. 

If you are interested, please contact Margie at +852 68011288 or the Church WhatsApp on +852 55890100.

In the Gospel of John, we have heard the last words uttered by the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Bible -- "Do whatever he tells you." Mary doesn't speak often in the Sacred Scriptures, but every time she does speak, her words overflow with wisdom. And this is no exception.

Life is full of challenges, surprises, and temptations, and it's easy to get distracted. With her last words in the Bible, the Blessed Virgin Mary gives us the three keys to stay on-task in our efforts to follow Christ and discover the happiness that only he can give. Let's look at these three keys one by one and see how we can apply them to our lives.

I: Attitude of Creative Service

The first key is an attitude of creative service. Mary was not in charge of this wedding at Cana. In the ancient world, it was always the bride's father who was in charge.

Weddings were some of the very few occasions in ancient times when common, working-class people could take time off to celebrate and enjoy themselves. As a result, most weddings would include five to seven days of festivities.

But the interesting thing is that the head caterer (the "headwaiter"), the one who was responsible for providing food and drink throughout the wedding festivities, was not the one who noticed that the wine was running short.

Instead, it was the Blessed Virgin Mary. Even in the midst of a rollicking party, a wedding feast where she was a guest and not a hostess, she kept her attention on the needs of others.

She didn't become so self-absorbed in having a good time that she forgot about those around her. Instead, she recognized the potential disaster, and then she took the initiative to do something about it – to help avert the great embarrassment and disappointment that running out of wine would cause to the bride's family. That was Mary's habitual approach to life: she always fostered an attitude of creative service.

She kept her eyes open for opportunities to help others, and she took the initiative to seize those opportunities. This is how she reflected in her own day-to-day life the goodness and generosity of God, who is always thinking of us and providing for us and watching over us.

An attitude of creative service is the first key to being a true follower of Christ. St Vincent Pallotti said it well: "Remember that the Christian life is one of action; not of speech and daydreams... In heaven we shall rest."

II: Confidence in Jesus

The second key is unbounded confidence in Jesus. Mary noticed the problem, and she wanted to do something about it. But what exactly could she do?

She was not a rich woman, and there was no Park 'n Shop in Cana where she could go to buy a few more gallons of cheap wine. Even though she didn't have the resources to solve the problem all by herself, she knew exactly who did have the resources: her son. And so she goes to Jesus, catches his eye, and simply puts the need before him: "They have no wine."

She knows her son very well. She knows that his heart is full of goodness, mercy, and love. She knows that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, omnipotent. And so, she approaches him with total confidence and openness, knowing that the unique combination of infinite love and unlimited omnipotence will be able to solve this problem.

That's how we need to approach Jesus. He is our Savior; he came to earth for our sake – as we pray each week in the Creed. He loves us without condition, and his infinite wisdom and power are at the service of that love.

Even when Jesus doesn't answer our prayers the way we would like him to, we can be certain that he knows what he is about. In our needs, in our confusion, in our troubles and sufferings, we should make Mary's prayer our own: "They – we, I – have no wine…"

Confidence in Jesus – trust in the incomparable combination of his limitless love, power, and wisdom. This is the second key to spiritual maturity.

III: Obedience to God's Will

But Mary doesn't stop with a mere attitude of confidence in Jesus. She puts her confidence into practice.

After Jesus gives her a rather ambiguous answer to her prayer, she turns to the waiters and gives them the best piece of advice that any human being has ever given anyone: "Do whatever he tells you."

The true test of our confidence in God's goodness and power is our obedience to his will. If we truly believe that God is our Father, our Savior, and our King, we will obey his commandments and his teachings; we will "do whatever he tells" us. Inspired by Mary's confidence, these waiters do exactly that.

They can't imagine why Jesus tells them to fill up these huge stone containers with water. Logically speaking, that's not going to help the situation at all. And physically speaking, that's a lot of work. Only Mary's confidence in Jesus, overflowing into their own hearts and minds, gave them the faith they needed to obey. And as a result, they became part of a miracle and saved the day.

The same thing happens in our own lives. Amid life's difficulties and temptations, obeying God's commandments and the teaching of the Church often appears illogical: everyone else is using contraception, it must be OK, everyone else is doing in vitro fertilization, and it's perfectly legal after all, everyone else is doing drugs and having sex before marriage and living together, what could possibly be wrong with it?

During pressure from popular culture, obeying Church teaching often seems to be too much work: How can we fit daily prayer into our busy schedules? How can we possibly afford another child? Sunday Mass is such an inconvenience, why can't I just pray out in nature? How can we find time to visit the sick and imprisoned, to feed the hungry, to instruct the ignorant and love our neighbor as ourselves?

And yet, whenever we allow Mary's confidence in Jesus to overflow into our own hearts and minds, we too will find enough faith to obey what God, in his infinite love and wisdom, asks of us, and then we too will become part of a miracle and save the day.

Conclusion: Following Mary to Christ

The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Queen of Heaven and Mother of God, is teaching us today how to follow Christ, how to become a mature Christian: By imitating her attitude of creative service, by sharing in her confidence in Jesus, and by joining her obedience to God's will, we will travel surely and swiftly along the path of a truly fulfilling, meaningful, and everlasting life.

As we continue with this Mass, let's ask her to intercede on our behalf, just as she did for the newlyweds at Cana, so that even when we don't seem to have any wine left in our hearts, God's grace will still flow freely in us and through us. 

Why do children need baptismal grace for salvation?

Because they inherit original sin from the moment of conception. The psalmist laments: "Indeed, in guilt was I born, and in sin my mother conceived me." (Ps 51:7).

The apostle Paul tells us that "through one person sin entered the world, and through sin, death" (Rom 5:12). He does not say that this sin is manifested only when the person reaches the age of reason. Rather, he writes before baptism "we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest." (Eph 2:3)

Because babies are born with original sin, they need baptism to cleanse them, so that they may become adopted sons and daughters of God and receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the kingdom of God also belongs to children (see Mt 18:4; Mk 10:14). He never put an age limit upon those eligible to receive His grace.(Lk 18:15-17; Mt 18:2-5)

When St. Paul addresses the "holy ones" of the Church (see Eph 1:1; Col 1:2), these include the children whom he addresses specifically in Ephesians 6:1 and Colossians 3:20. Children become "holy ones" of the Church and members of the body of Christ only through baptism.

Pastoral Directives

Since the well-being of an infant's future Christian life is closely related to the parent's life of faith, the Church will not entrust parents with the task of nurturing an infant's faith if they themselves do not practice the faith.

The above instruction declares: "Assurances must be given that the gift granted (by baptism) can grown by an authentic education in the faith and Christian life, in order to fulfill the true meaning of the sacrament. As a rule, these assurances are to be given by the parents or close relatives, although various substitutions are possible within the Christian community. But if these assurances are not really serious there can be grounds for delaying the sacrament; and if they are certainly non-existent, the sacrament should be refused."(n. 28,2)

Indications that these assurances are existent are regular attendance at Sunday Mass, devout reception of sacraments, prayers, Scripture readings, acts of charity, etc.

On the other hand, when parents ask to have their child baptized simply for worldly or superstitious motives (e.g. for admittance to a Catholic school to obtain corporal blessings or to be saved from misfortune), baptism should be refused or delayed until, through catechetical instruction, they can grasp the real significance of baptism.

Similarly, when Catholics who are married civilly only ask for baptism of their children, the sacrament should also be refused or delayed unless, meanwhile, they make a sincere promise to have their marriage regularized and return to Church life. In any case, whenever baptism has to be deferred or refused, it must be made absolutely clear that this is being done not as a means of exercising pressure on the parents, but simply because, in the circumstances, the probability of the child being educated and brought up as a Catholic is absent. (https://catholic.org.hk/en/infantbaptism/)

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm. 

Due to the current announcement from both the government and the diocese, ALL PUBLIC MASSES from JANUARY 10 - 20 are CANCELED. However, the Church remains open from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM for personal prayers.

• In response to the latest situation of the COVID epidemic in Hong Kong, please leave the church as soon as possible after mass, and those who enter the church must take the following epidemic prevention measures:
  • Scan the "Leave Home Safe" QR code / register your name and phone number to record your visit.
  • Always wear mask. If you sneeze or cough, cover your mouth and nose with a tissue, then dispose sensibly
  • Body temperature must be screened.
  • Use hand sanitizer to clean hands.
  • Those present should keep a social distance of at least 1.5 meters from each other.
  • Do not step on the kneeling stool of the church.
• The First English Ministries Meeting will be held on Tue, 11 Jan at 7:45 PM in the Parish Hall and also via Zoom.All are welcome to attend.Please check with any Council Member for details.
• Due to the current announcement from both the government and the diocese, ALL PUBLIC MASSES from JANUARY 10 - 20 are CANCELED. However, the Church remains open from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM for personal prayers.
• In view of the latest tightening of social distancing, the Youth Group Meeting on Fri, 14 Jan is cancelled.