A Marian Pilgrimage will be held on 5-6 December 2020 (Saturday – Sunday) at the Immaculate Conception Chapel in Sai Kung Country Park. The chapel is not open during the year and was built 150 years ago. The program includes Procession, Mass, Adoration of the Cross, Evening prayer around campfire, hiking, and overnight camping on the beach. Please refer to the Parish notice board for details. Information and sign-up forms will be provided upon email request and on the Facebook page.
The annual Caritas Hong Kong Charity Raffle Ticket sale will be held until 27 November 2020.
The price for each booklet is HK$200 (a total of 10 tickets per booklet).
All funds raised will be used to support Caritas Hong Kong's various services to the community (including education, medical and social work services).
What is the unique characteristic common to every saint?
It certainly isn't intelligence. You don't have to be super-smart to be a saint.
It certainly isn't good looks. The unique characteristic of saints isn't even a great personality.
The unique characteristic isn't wealth and worldly success - we do have canonized saints who were empresses, but we also have those who were hermits and beggars.
The characteristic shared by all the saints, the one sure sign of mature holiness, is none of those things.
Rather, it is the truly amazing ability to experience deep joy even in the middle of terrible sorrow.
This is what Jesus means when he says that those who are poor, in mourning, and persecuted are blessed.
Holiness is a mature friendship with Jesus Christ, a friendship so deep and strong that it allows us to experience the joy of eternal life even while still fighting the painful battles of our earthly exile.
Every single one of us is called to experience true joy even in the midst of life's harshest sufferings. Because every single one of us is called to holiness, to mature friendship with Jesus Christ.
To help us renew this friendship, which we have all begun, Jesus gives us two things in today's liturgy: hope and advice.
He gives us hope by reminding us that this level of spiritual maturity is really possible, because he is the one making it happen.
St. John remind us: "Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God."
It is God's grace that transforms normal bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. So too God's love and grace will transform us from selfish sinners into stout-hearted saints - if we let him.
And that's where the advice comes in.
In today's Alleluia verse, Jesus tells us our part in the process: "Come to me all you that labor and are burdened."
To find joy of holiness, we must "come to Jesus" in the midst of our trials and crosses, staying close to him through prayer, confession, and the Eucharist. Only then will we learn how trustworthy he is, and discover the secret to joy amidst sorrow.
Today as Jesus comes close to us again, let's promise never again to let selfishness, sin, or discouragement lead us away from him. It's a promise he died to help us keep.
Why designate certain people with the title 'Saint'? And why should we pray to them and venerate them? What is Church's teaching about the Communion of Saints?
To answer these questions, we must start with a definition: What exactly is a saint?
"Holy Ones"
The biblical Greek and Hebrew words in Scripture most often translated as "saints" literally mean "holy ones" (Acts 9:13) or "faithful ones" (1 Sm 2:9). In Catholic tradition, the word saints can be used in several ways, which are all reflected in Scripture.
St. Paul sometimes addressed his letters to "the saints" in a particular city (see Eph 1:1; Col 1:2). In this case, he was speaking of all Christians as the "holy ones," because they have now been made holy by their baptism and are striving to become more holy.
The Catholic Church affirms, then, that all faithful Christians are "saints" in this sense. The vocation, the calling, to holiness is universal; God is speaking to all Christians when He says in Scripture, "Be holy because I [am] holy" (see 1 Pt 1:14-16).
Nevertheless, the word "saints" appears in some scriptural passages to have a narrower sense. St. Matthew's Gospel refers to the "saints" who rose from the dead after Christ's resurrection (see 27:52-53) as faithful departed who were being taken by Christ to heaven. St. Paul speaks of the "saints" who will accompany Christ from heaven when He returns to earth at the end of the world (1 Thes 3:13). And St. John uses the same term to refer to the "saints" who are now in heaven praying to God (Rv 5:8; 8:3).
It's in this latter, narrower sense that the Catholic Church uses the term "saints" to refer to all those who have been perfected and are now face to face with God in heaven and have a share in His divine nature. When the Church celebrates the solemnity, or solemn feast, of All Saints' Day on Nov. 1, these are the saints being honored that day: all those human beings who have left this life and are now in heaven with God — the ones whose names we know, and the ones whose names we don't know.
In addition, there's one more sense in which we use the term "saint," in a way even narrower than the ways already described. The Catholic Church honors certain departed Christians with the formal title "saint." This title indicates the Church's confidence that the individual died in friendship with God and is now with Him in heaven.
So how does the Church gain the confidence that a particular person is in heaven? Various kinds of evidence are sought in the process called canonization, which leads to the formal recognition of a person's sainthood. This evidence includes reliable testimony to the person's extraordinary holiness in this life; indications that the person's life has drawn others closer to God; and carefully documented miracles occurring after the person's intercession has been asked for. Such miracles provide evidence that the person can offer effective assistance because he or she is now with God in heaven. (To be continued)
Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.
The "law and the prophets" that Jesus refers to in today's Gospel (the Old Testament) were considered by the Jews to contain the absolutely unique self-revelation of the one, true God to his only Chosen People.
Possessing this revelation made ancient Israel more privileged than all other nations and peoples.
Therefore, when the Pharisee asks Jesus to identify the greatest among the 613 commandments of the Old Testament, he is really challenging Christ to give an interpretation of the entire history and reality of the Israelite nation. We can imagine Christ fixing his eyes on those of the questioner, wondering how sincere the question really was.
St Matthew doesn't tell us how the Pharisee reacted, but we can imagine that he was surprised, if not downright shocked. Jesus had been asked to name one commandment, but then he listed two.
The shrewd Pharisees would have noticed this. In listing two commandments, Jesus was pointing out that you cannot separate loving God from loving one's neighbor. And that's exactly what many of the Pharisees did every single day.
God is our Creator and Savior; his love is both universal and personal.
He loves every single human being so much that he gave his life on the cross to pay the price for each person's sin, to open the gates of heaven to every single person who is willing to follow him.
And so, if someone truly loves God with all their heart, it would be a contradiction not to treat one's neighbors - those very people whom God loves and suffered to save - with sincere and self-sacrificing respect.
The old saying applies above all to God: A friend of yours is a friend of mine.
In today's world, people are very busy. Sometimes we even feel much too busy to take time to reach out to neighbors in need. A true Christian should always remember that people matter more than things. We should never be too busy for a kind word or a sincere smile.
But those of us who really are super-busy can also make use of a secret weapon that allows us to do more in less time, to fulfil both of Christ's two great commandments in one action.
What is this secret weapon? Praying for other people. When we pray for people, we are exercising both loves at the same time: we show our love for God by talking to him and expressing confidence in his goodness and power, and we show our love for our neighbor by caring about them.
To pray regularly and sincerely for others - it's the secret weapon for loving God and loving our neighbor. During this Mass, let's promise to use that weapon well.
Who are these champions? They are the ones who stand out in the 800-year history of the rosary as the main promoters and heroes of the Church's preeminent form of devotion to Our Lady, the rosary.
The first champion was St. Dominic. He is the founder of the rosary, the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), and the Confraternity of the Rosary. He was a very holy priest and Our Lady first entrusted the powerful spiritual sword of the rosary to him. After him, there have been numerous others who have championed this devotion and help spread it to the ends of the earth.
one champion that not too many people know about is Saint Anthony Mary Claret, the founder of the Claretians. During his life, he received several visions of the Virgin Mary in which she instructed him that he was to be the "new St. Dominic" of his time in his promotion of the rosary. As the archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, St. Anthony mandated that all his priests pray the rosary with the people on Sundays and Solemnities. To make sure this practice was being done, St. Anthony would make surprise visits to the parishes of his diocese and watch from the back pew!
Then there is Pope Leo XIII. He is the pope who promoted the rosary more than any other pope in Church history. During his pontificate, he wrote eleven encyclicals on the rosary, as well as numerous apostolic letters and exhortations. He gave us the famous Prayer to St. Michael and added the title "Our Lady of the Rosary" to the Litany of Loreto.
Another one of champions is Blessed Bartolo Longo. He was a layman who was once an ordained Satanic priest! As a college student he had abandoned the Catholicism of his youth and started attending séances. This eventually led him to being ordained in an evil cult. After having suffered from nightmares, hallucinations, depression, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts, he talked to a Dominican priest and had a profound conversion. The Dominican priest told him about the power of the rosary, which led Bartolo to renounce the occult, become a Third Order Dominican, and initiate the construction of the world's most famous Shrine dedicated to the rosary: The Pontifical Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii, Italy. He was beatified in 1980 by St. John Paul II.
Then there's Blessed James Alberione. He was the founder of ten religious institutes, including the Daughters of St. Paul, and rarely gave a talk without having first prayed a rosary beforehand. Whenever he traveled anywhere, he would always invite those around him to pray the rosary and he would pray it continuously until he reached his destination!
This is but a snippet of the many interesting facts about some of the greatest champions of the rosary in the church.
The holy men and women mentioned above are only a sampling of the great champions of the rosary. By praying the rosary and promoting it, you can be a champion of the rosary of Our Lady!
One hundred years ago, Our Lady came to Fatima, Portugal, and asked the three little children to pray the rosary daily for conversion and peace in the world. During the last apparition on October 13, 1917, Mary specifically referred to herself as "The Lady of the Rosary." The rosary is at the heart of the Fatima message and we need the rosary in our lives more than ever today.
Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.
My dear brothers and sisters, today is Mission Sunday. Through the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gives His disciples a mission to accomplish. From this short passage, we can learn three things.
First, Trust and Obedience:
Obedience and trust in God are not highly touted virtues in today's society, yet obedience to Jesus' command to go to Galilee was the door that gave the apostles access to Christ.
Any one of the apostles was free to go his own way, but that way would not necessarily lead him to the vision of the Risen Christ. They had trusted him until this point, and they showed by going that they were ready to entrust their lives entirely to his guidance.
When we are obedient to the Word of God, to Christ's teachings, to the teachings of the Church, we are giving God free rein to live in us and to act through us.
Obedience of this kind is possible only when we commit ourselves to the Lord, when we trust in him and exercise a living faith that he wishes to guide us through his appointed instruments.
Second, Doubt Is an Invitation:
"Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 124). Following Jesus is a challenge because he does not always allow us to perceive his presence.
At times we see him acting clearly in our lives; at other times we doubt, just as the disciples did. Instead of causing us alarm, moments of doubt in our hearts should be countered by a firm decision to trust in him always. Christ drew closer to them precisely when the disciples doubted.
At the moment when their vision was clouded, he reassured them: "All power in heaven and earth has been given to me." Do I turn my mind and heart to Our Lord as soon as my spirit is troubled?
Third, With God Everything Is Possible:
Jesus wants to share his power with us, and he does so through the Sacraments, beginning with Baptism.
With his power he also gives us a share in his mission: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations." Friendship with Jesus is also a commitment to teach others to share in the joy of knowing and loving him.
Our relationship with Jesus broadens our horizons because we share in his life and in the life of the Father and of the Holy Spirit.
The mission to make disciples of all nations might seem daunting, but God himself is on our side: "Behold, I am with you always." So our trust in the Lord widens the narrow horizon of our own self-seeking.
We need to commit our ways to the Lord so that we can be loyal instruments of his mercy and love. We are called to fulfill his command to spread his message far and wide.
FATIMA: THE ROSARY & SCAPULAR
A prophecy attributed to Saint Dominic further underlines this importance: "One day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, Our Lady will save the world."
During the final apparition at Fatima, October 13, 1917 when the "miracle of the sun" occurred, Our Lady first appeared as she had been appearing to the three shepherd children with her sorrowful heart exposed. And then she appeared as Our Lady of Mount Carmel with "something hanging from her right hand." We can safely assume that the "something" was the scapular.
"Why do you think Our Lady appeared with the Scapular in this last vision?" Lucia was asked in 1950.
"Because," Lucia replied, "She wants everyone to wear the Scapular."
The fact that Lucia, on October 13, 1917, saw the Blessed Virgin as She is generally represented under the invocation of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, lends itself to many interpretations. There is nothing to prevent people seeing in this fact the desire of Our Lady to be better known, loved and invoked as Queen of Mount Carmel, or that the use of Her Scapular, with all its obligations, be considered one of the points of Her message, as a very efficacious means of salvation of souls and of the world.
THE SABBATINE PRIVILEGE
Attached to the wearing of the Brown Scapular is the Sabbatine Privilege. The name Sabbatine Privilege originates from the apocryphal Bull "Sacratissimo uti culmine" of John XXII, 3 March, 1322. The papal document declares that the Mother of God appeared to him, and most urgently recommended to him the Carmelite Order and its confratres and consorores.
According to Pope John XXII, the Blessed Virgin gave him the following message in a vision related to those who wear the Brown Scapular: "I, the Mother of Grace, shall descend on the Saturday (Sabbath) after their death and whomsoever I shall find in Purgatory, I shall free, so that I may lead them to the holy mountain of life everlasting."
Based on Church tradition, three conditions need to be fulfilled to obtain the benefits of this Privilege and the Scapular:
1. Wear the Brown Scapular.
2. Observe chastity according to one's state in life.
3. Pray the Rosary.
In order to receive the spiritual blessings associated with the Scapular, it is necessary to be formally enrolled in the Brown Scapular by either a priest. Once enrolled, no other Scapular need be blessed before wearing. The blessing and imposition are attached to the wearer for life.
SATAN'S WEAPON IN OUR TIMES
As we approach the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Fatima (1917), we see evil unleashed on our world as never before. In the apparitions, Mary affirmed the weapons most powerful in facing the evils of our time: Rosary and Scapular. But, let's not diminish the importance of the remaining condition for obtaining the Sabbatine Privilege: "Observe chastity according to one's state in life."
It is no accident that evil is running unabated in our times just as we are experiencing the worst "days of debauchery" in the history of mankind?
This debauchery has been Satan's most effective weapon in our times, especially since the advent of high-speed internet. With one click access to pornography, our men (especially) have been easily tempted to exchange their friendship with God for a few moments of sensual pleasure. Now, stripped of their spiritual armor and weapons; they are naked on the battlefield with no real power to protect and lead their families … they have no power of grace.
The time is now to reclaim the surrendered ground Satan has stolen from our families. The time is now for all men to make a commitment to purity.
Take up the weapons of our times: The Scapular, Rosary and Purity.
Our Lady of the Fatima, pray for us! St. Michael the Archangel, protect us from all evil!
GO TO CONFESSION!!
Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.
You can support it by purchasing some Raffle Tickets from our volunteers or the Parish Office. Each ticket only costs $20, and if we all just buy a few of them, many will be helped.
This is in support of our brethren in the Holy Land and the numerous pastoral, charitable, educational and social institutions and projects sponsored by the Church there.
In view of the enormous expenses, the Holy See is appealing for a more generous support from us.
My dear brothers and sisters, today's readings remind us that Heaven awaits us as a party, not a chore. Everybody has to prepare for the party if they don't want to miss out on the fun.
In today's First Reading Isaiah describes our future as the ultimate party where shadows and tears are banished, and there's only room for celebration. Everyone, "all peoples," are invited to this celebration. No expense is spared on the food and the wine.
In today's Second Reading St. Paul reminds us that moments of famine help us appreciate even more the moments of feast. If you want just one list of all the ups and downs of St. Paul's missions, just read 2 Corinthians 11:21–33: prisons, beatings, shipwrecks, "in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure."
In today's Gospel, the wedding feast reminds us of Heaven, but also that although everyone is invited to the party, some, in the end, will not be found worthy to participate in it, and some won't want to participate in it at all.
Some had already been invited to the feast, and now servants were sent to tell them it was ready. Obviously, these invitees had a closer relationship with the king: they were invited to come and didn't feel obliged to come.
The invitees ask to be excused, but just gave excuses not to come: they'd known when the great dinner would be held and had made other plans. Some didn't even make excuses and just killed the messengers.
Abandoned by his friends, the king invited other members of his kingdom, but not on the basis of friendship, just by a benevolence a king owes his people.
If this parable speaks to us of Heaven, it's also a reminder that God is merciful and good, but in the end, we have to do our part, even a little, if we want to be saved. Salvation is not automatic.
The man with no wedding garment had no answer for the king's question: there was no excuse he could offer, and if the king was displeased, it means something was expected of that man that he didn't do.
That wedding garment symbolizes having done something to partake and appreciate the marriage feast. This poor man shows no signs of celebration whatsoever. Maybe he represents that Christian who goes through the motions all their life but never actually seeks to help himself or others to get to Heaven.
We have to give Our Lord something to work with. The man with no wedding garment managed to get to the banquet hall, but he didn't go far enough to stay.
Motivation is the key to carrying out any worthy enterprise. They know what they want and they have a clear plan before their eyes. CEO's in successful companies know what they want, have goals, deadlines, and concrete steps to attain those goals. Professional athletes have a determined determination to win. They study their opponents' weak points, capitalize on their own strengths and play for victory. Therefore, to attain to any goal there must be a clear plan and strong motivations.
Spiritual Goals and Objectives
Even more important for the human person created in the image and likeness of God should be the goal and the motivation to attain that goal. Our goal is very clear—to get to heaven. One of the most efficacious means to attain eternal salvation with God in heaven is through prayer. Prayer is the key to salvation. What oxygen is to our lungs so is prayer to the life of our soul. For that reason, Saint Augustine asserted: "He who prays well lives well; he who lives well dies well; and he who dies well, all is well."
Still there is a powerful means and intercessor before the throne of God who can help us to get to heaven and to help us in our prayer life and motivate us to focus our energies on God and God alone—the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Way Pray Rosary
Saying the Hail Mary's is like background music to the meditation. Everybody always knows that a beautiful scene is always better and more beautiful when there is music. It is certainly possible to meditate without praying vocal prayers. However, in the Rosary we are asking Our Lady to teach us about Jesus. This is why many popes have called the Rosary the school of Mary. Praying the vocal prayer of the Hail Mary while meditating on the mysteries of the rosary is comparable to listening to the Psalms of the Old Testament while taking a walk and contemplating the beauty of nature.
Even saints struggled with praying the rosary. Yet, it is important to remember that those who love Jesus and Mary never give up! Even though some saints struggled with praying the rosary, none of them ever gave up. For example, St. Thérèse of Lisieux often mentioned how difficult it was for her to pray the rosary and meditate on the mysteries, but she also noted that she gave it her best effort and knew that since Mary was her spiritual mother Our Lady knew Thérèse's heart and accepted whatever she gave her.
Personally, I think everyone gets distracted and experiences their mind wandering during the rosary. We are not angels or robots, and do not have the ability to ponder one thing for long periods of time without other thoughts coming to our mind. No one should panic over this or give up praying the rosary because of it. To help with this, we have the blessing today of having beautiful little pamphlets that have images for each mystery on them. Many people have found that if they gaze upon a visual image of each mystery, they get less distracted and are able to meditate easier.
Pray Rosary in the Family
How to instill a deeper prayer life at home. But what are some tips or strategies to make it fruitful, especially for families with small children?
The family rosary is very powerful and there have been many popes and saints who have promoted it. However, popes and saints also know that young children can become rambunctious during a twenty-minute prayer commitment. This is why many holy people have recommended that a good method to follow when young children are involved is to pray a decade as a family every evening, but save the praying the entire rosary (one set of mysteries) for Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.
I would also suggest that in order to instill in young children an understanding of what they are doing when they pray the rosary, it can help to describe each mystery to them and then have them draw the mystery and color it in with crayons. This is a creative way of helping young children understand the rosary in a deeper and more childlike way.
Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.
God is reminding us today that all good things in life have come from him. Many people often get angry at God and ask why he allows bad things to happen.
Fewer people are humble and honest enough to ask themselves a much more important question: Why do good things happen, why is there any good in the world at all, where did it come from? We should think more about the answers to those questions.
Today's Readings paint the picture of a vineyard, or a garden. Gardens are environments carefully created by gardeners in order to enable plants to be healthy and reach maturity, bearing abundant fruit.
God sees our souls as gardens of virtue. Just as God supplied the vineyard with air, sunlight, water, soil, the wall to protect it, and the tower to guard it, so he supplies each one of us with life, talents, opportunities, family, sacraments, faith, knowledge, conscience, and the guidance of the Church. There is no good thing we can think of that doesn't owe its origin and existence to God.
One of the very best things that God gives us is his mercy, his patience.
Today's Readings show how many chances God gives his tenants to do the right thing, to fulfill their duties, to do what they were put there to do.
When they don't do what's right, God sends three different messengers, including his own son. In justice, however, he didn't have to send any.
He could have evicted those selfish stewards right away. But God is patient with our sin and selfishness. He keeps giving us more and more chances, many more than we deserve. He never gives up on us, even though sometimes we give up on ourselves.
God's boundless mercy is the best evidence of his immense goodness.
Understanding the rosary as a spiritual weapon is vital to understanding why it is so powerful and the reasons for why heaven gave it to us. St Paul says that the Word of God is a spiritual weapon. Well, almost the entire prayers of the Rosary come right out of the New Testament. Therefore, the Rosary is a spiritual weapon. What is a weapon used for but to fight against an enemy. The enemy of our souls is Satan, sin, and the spirit of the world. With the Rosary, using it daily, we can defeat the devil, the world, and our sinful selves. Many, many saints and popes have referred to the Rosary as a weapon. St Padre Pio, St Josemaria Escriva, St John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI are some of the recent people who have used this terminology.
The rosary came into existence in the year 1208, when Our Lady appeared to St. Dominic and instructed him to use it as a weapon against falsehoods. The Church has given her consent for the faithful to pray the Rosary from its very beginning It is a prayer that combines vocal prayer and mental prayer (meditation). Saints, popes, and many holy mystics have promoted it. It is the most recognized Marian prayer in the entire Catholic world. Pope Leo XIII wrote 11 encyclicals on the Rosary.
The 13th century was a time of knights, battles, swords, and chivalry. By using a set of prayer beads containing the sacred mysteries of Jesus as the foundation of his preaching, St. Dominic wielded it as a spiritual sword against falsehoods and theological errors. I love the fact that during his lifetime Catholics wore the rosary on the left side of their belt to signify the side from which a knight withdrew his sword from its sheath.
While it is true that a set of prayer beads doesn't look like a weapon, what gives the rosary its power is what can't be seen with the human eye. What God and the angels (both holy and fallen) see that we can't is that the rosary encapsulates and enshrines the saving mysteries of the God-Man. It is those mysteries that set us free from the bondage of Satan. This is why Satan hates the rosary and fears it so much. The rosary is a dragon slayer!
Three reasons Why we pray the Rosary:
1) Love your mother. You love your mother, right? Sure, you do. Then, give her roses. In addition to being a spiritual weapon, it is also a crown of spiritual roses. When we pray it we give Mary, our spiritual mother, a wreath of spiritual roses.
2) Jesus is pleased by it. Jesus is not offended if someone prays the words of the New Testament while meditating on the mysteries of our salvation. Praying the Rosary shows that we are grateful for what Jesus has done for us, and we never want to forget it. By thinking of all that our Savior did for us on a daily basis, we are showing Jesus that we love him very much.
3) Be a saint! You are never going to become holy without praying. Spontaneous prayers are good, but if you don't have a consistent structured prayer routine in your day, you will not advance in virtue and build spiritual muscles. By praying the Rosary, you will begin to avoid anything that displeased God and Our Lady. Your life will change when you pray the Rosary.
Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.
You can support it by purchasing some Raffle Tickets from our volunteers or the Parish Office.
Each ticket only costs $20, and if we all just buy a few of them, many will be helped.
My dear brothers and sisters, in today's Gospel, Jesus tell us a story about a father who has two sons. Jesus speaks this parable towards the very end of his life. He is in Jerusalem the week before his crucifixion.
He spends his nights outside the city with his disciples and his days inside the Temple, debating with the Jewish scholars and leaders who are trying to discredit and humiliate him.
He tells this parable for them, in order to break through their blindness.
These leaders, the ones who are against Jesus and who will soon arrange his death, are Palestine's experts in religion. They are the ones who serve in the Temple, study the sacred Scriptures, preach to the crowds, and rule and govern God's Chosen people.
They claim to be God's close collaborators, the ones who are following God's commandments better than anyone else. And yet, these are the very ones who fail to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
Sinners and social outcasts on the other hand, like tax collectors and prostitutes, do recognize Jesus; they believe in him, and they repent from their sin.
Why are the chief priests and elders unable to see the truth?
Why do they, like the second son in the parable, say that they are God's followers, but then refuse to obey the Messiah of God?
This is an important question for us. We are among the small percentage of Catholics who come to Sunday Mass - we are the ones who appear to be following the Lord. And so, we too are in danger of falling into this same blindness, of thinking that we are doing God's will in our lives, but actually not doing it.
The cause of their spiritual blindness can also become the cause of our spiritual blindness. What is this cause? Hypocrisy. Keeping up the appearances of a good Catholic, but compromising the substance.
The surest way to banish hypocrisy from our lives is to adopt as our personal motto the phrase that Jesus taught us in the Our Father: "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done."
God's will is dependable and truthful, and when we make it our highest priority, we too become dependable and truthful.
And unlike followers of some other religions, as Christians we have an objective standard for God's will that protects us from doing evil and calling it "the will of God."
Christianity is the religion of the person, Jesus Christ, the Word of God, to whom the words in the church's book (the Bible) bear witness. The Bible, the book that was both created the church and was created by the church, is a privileged witness to God's dealing with the people of God in both the Old and the New Testaments.
The Catholic approach to the Bible may be characterized as a both/and, rather than an either/or. This became more obvious after the Second Vatican Council. The Council published a great and moving document called "Dei Verbum," "The Word of God." It is a magisterial overview of how the church looks at the Bible. Over thirty years later, in 1993, the Pontifical Biblical Commission produced a similarly helpful document entitled "The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church."
Let me point out just three highlights of these two important documents.
First of all, "Dei Verbum" looks at the Bible as an instance of God's personal self-revelation to us. That's important: God communicates himself, or Godself, not only through what we call "salvation history" as recorded in the Bible (that is, the way that God relates to humanity) but in the Bible itself.
Second, both documents look carefully at the relationship between Scripture and tradition, which is long been a source of unfortunate controversy between Catholics and Protestants. In the Catholic Church we consider tradition to be guided by the Holy Spirit, and so Vatican II emphasized the close relationship between Scripture and tradition, describing them beautifully as both "flowing from the same divine wellspring."
What may surprise a lot of people is the third highlight: the church recommends the use of the methods and approaches of professional biblical studies. The Pontificial Biblical Commission's document commends what is usually called the "historical-critical method" as "the indispensable method for scientific study of the meaning of ancient texts," and also encourages our attempts to understand the different literary methods that are used in the texts.
Back to the both/and rather than the either/or. The Catholic approach to Scripture insists on both the divine origin of the Bible and the necessary contribution of the people composed the books of the Bible at a certain time, in a certain place and for certain community. It urges us, in a word, to understand the Bible better as, to use one of the phrases are run through the 1993 document, "the word of God in human language."
The Bible is one of the primary ways that I encounter God. We focus mainly on Jesus, the person to whom We've dedicated our life. Through reflection on and study of the Bible we try to better understand who Jesus was, or rather, since we believe him to be risen, is. Also, we try to understand the history of his people, the Jews. But mainly we look to the Bible to meditate on what Jesus said and did during his ministry. How he lived. How he cared for people. And what we are meant to do as his disciples.
None of this is meant in any way to diminish the importance of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures or the Torah, depending on your preferred nomenclature. God's Covenant with the Jewish people is still, obviously, in effect. As the Second Vatican Council reminded us over and over again.
But for us, as a Christian, we view the Bible primarily as a way of getting to know Jesus and his people the Jews, in both the Old and New Testaments.
Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.
Today Jesus gives us a warning. "The last will be first, and the first will be last."
Christ tells this parable right after Peter asked him what the twelve Apostles will get in return for having given up everything to follow Jesus.
The parable itself most obviously applies to the Jewish nation in general. The Jews were God's Chosen People, the first nation on earth to receive God's revelation.
They are the workers who were hired at daylight. But when the eternal Kingdom appears in all its fullness at the end of history, the Jews may find others honored by God more than themselves, just as the first workers found that the latecomers were treated with extra generosity - the last will be first.
The parable is also a warning to the Apostles. They too were given a special role in the history of salvation. They were chosen to be the visible foundation of the Church, but in the end, others will achieve greatness in Christ's name as well - the first will be last.
God has plans that we do not always understand. As the First Reading put it, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways."
Why does Jesus issue this warning? Because he wants us to have interior peace. Nothing disturbs our minds more than the thirst for recognition and esteem.
When we are always comparing ourselves to others, we are filled with worries, envy, stress, anger, and uncertainty. And this can occur even within our own Christian communities!
But if we simply try to give our best in life for Christ, thinking more of the glory of God than of self, and recognizing the abundant generosity of God's love, then our trust in him will grow, those selfish motives will shrink, and we will begin to experience the unshakable peace and security that only Christ can give.
St. Anne's Church
1 Tung Tau Wan Road
Stanley, Hong Kong
Office Hours:
Sunday 8:30-1:30
Tue-Fri 9:00-12:00, 1:00-6:30
Closed on Statutory Holidays
Tel: +852 2813 0206
Fax: +852 2813 6908
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