God knows the limitations of our human nature very well - after all, he created it. We can only focus our attention - really focus it - on one or two things at a time; we can't keep everything in mind all at once. But on the other hand, we can't focus our attention on the same thing all the time either; we need variety, otherwise we become depressed.

These limitations of our human nature are one reason God inspired the Church to divide the year into liturgical seasons.

The mystery of our salvation includes the whole Bible, the whole life of Christ, and the whole history of the Church.

But we can't possibly keep all those things in mind all the time.

So we focus on different aspects of them at different times of the year (which has the added benefit of giving variety to our spiritual lives): in Lent we focus on the reality of sin and mercy and the need for repentance; during Easter we focus on the power of God and the Resurrection; during Ordinary Time we focus on the everyday life and teachings of Christ and the wisdom they impart for our everyday lives; and now, during Advent, we focus on God's faithfulness.

St Paul puts it briefly in today's Second Reading: "God is faithful." God didn't abandon the human race after original sin. He promised to send a Savior, and he fulfilled his promise on the very first Christmas.

And God has also promised that this Savior, Jesus Christ, will come again to bring our earthly exile to its completion, just as in Old Testament times God brought his Chosen People out of their exile in Babylon, as today's First Reading reminded us.

God is faithful; he will fulfill his promises - that's one of the key themes for Advent.

In today's First Reading, Isaiah says twice, "Lord, you are our Father." By reminding us today that God always fulfills his promises, the Church wants to put that same prayer in our hearts.

God is our Father; he is always looking after us, protecting us, and loving us. And unlike earthly fathers, God's fatherly love has no limits, no imperfections, no blind spots.

Advent is meant to be a time when we renew our awareness of God's perfect Fatherhood in our lives, letting his love for us renew our spirits.

The best way to do that is to spend more time with God in prayer during this Advent season. But that will be impossible unless something else happens first.

Prayer is a funny thing: even though we usually don't see God with our physical eyes or hear him with our physical ears, when we turn our attention to him, he really is present, and we know it. As we become aware of this presence, we also, almost automatically, become aware of our own sinfulness, because God is truth, and his light shines into all the hidden corners of our heart.

If in those corners we have been hiding some un-repented and un-confessed sins, or harboring some sinful habits, as soon as we sincerely try to pray, they will come into view and distract us.

So, if we want to spend more time in prayer this Advent, filling our hearts with the Father's goodness and wisdom, the first thing we need to do is clean out those dark corners by taking a trip to the confessional.

Today, as we begin this sacred season, let's promise that we will let him clean up our dark corners, so that we can enjoy his presence as we prepare for the great commemoration of Christmas Day. 

The roots of the English word ADVENT are found in two Latin words. The verb, VENIRE, which means to come and the preposition, AD, which means toward. The four weeks of Advent focus on the coming of God to us. Advent has three meanings.

There is the coming of God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth who entered into time and history born into human flesh in Bethlehem of Judea. This coming is celebrated and remembered annually at Christmas. Advent prepares us for the coming of Christ at His birth.

There is the coming of God at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. God will appear as Lord in majesty on the last day. Advent looks to the final times, which some refer to as the Rapture, and it prepares us for when the Lord will come and usher in the fullness of God's Reign and the end of this world.

There is the coming of God in the present moment, when we may least expect it — the advent of God into my own life. Some refer to this as God's coming in mystery. God's nearness can be experienced in a variety of ways, in persons, events, in the Sacraments and in prayer.

In the past God came: the historical coming of Jesus Christ to save us. In God's hands is the future; God will come again. And, in the now of everyday God comes to us. Advent invites us to be ready, alert and prepared for these many comings of God to us.

While Advent is structured around these comings of God to us. That it is also the time for us to come to God. Advent is like a two-way street — God to us and us to God. Mary can be our guide. She can teach us how to come to God. God has taken the initiative to come to us and God continually comes to us and God will come to us; it is what God does. How do we respond to these divine actions or comings? We make the move to come to God.

Mary came to God without the stain of any sin. Destined to be the Mother of the Savior, this unique privilege was extended to her alone. Her Immaculate condition from conception lasted throughout her life and continues into eternity. She is sinless and, as such, is an image of the Church. Filled with the grace of Christ, this is what the Church is to be — sinless. However, we who are the Church are not without sin. Dealing with our sins. Ridding ourselves of them. Coming to God free from them. These are worthy Advent initiatives that the Immaculate Virgin Mary teaches us.

Mary, the Mother of the Lord, waited for His birth as do all pregnant mothers. She is an expectant mother filled with child, expecting the birth of a baby. For us, longing for God is another very worthy Advent project. We should express that longing in our prayer. "Come, Lord Jesus" is an ancient Advent prayer. Easy to remember. Easy to pray each day.

These Advent days of waiting and expecting challenge us to respond to God who comes to us. Recognizing that there is sin in our lives and in our world, let us open ourselves to the action of God who sent His Son to rescue us from evil and sin. Let us prepare to come to the Lord whose comings in History, Mystery and Majesty are toward us. And, let us fervently and frequently pray, "Come, Lord Jesus."

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.

The Solemnity of Christ the King, which every Catholic throughout the entire world is celebrating today, is a new thing.

The Church has existed for almost 2000 years, but this Solemnity is less than 100 years old. It was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925.

He explained his reasons for doing so in an encyclical letter called "Quas primas".

First, he explained that throughout history liturgical feasts have been instituted in response to particular needs that arise in the life of the world and the Church (#22).

He gives the example of the feasts in honor of the martyrs, of the celebration of Corpus Christi and the Sacred Heart. And then he explains which need this new celebration addresses.

He was writing this encyclical in 1925, when the world was still trying to recover from World War I, which had devastated Europe and shattered modernity's hopes for unlimited progress based solely on human reason.

1925 was also only a few years after the Russian Bolshevik Revolution, which had given birth to the world's first explicitly atheist totalitarian regime: Soviet communism.

Everywhere the pope looked, he saw human societies abandoning Christian values and trying to build paradise on earth through other means.

But if humanity had been able to perfect itself by itself, without God's help, then Jesus Christ would never have come to earth.

The fact is, Jesus did come. He brought his Gospel and his grace to a fallen race, and only by believing in that Gospel and accepting that grace can individuals and societies achieve true and lasting peace and prosperity.

Pope Pius XI instituted today's Solemnity as a way to remind the world that to reject Christ, either in private life or in public life, is to reject our only hope, and to accept him is to accept salvation.

As Pope Pius IX wrote: "...When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony... That these blessings may be abundant and lasting in Christian society, it is necessary that the kingship of our Savior should be as widely as possible recognized and understood, and to that end nothing would serve better than the institution of a special feast in honor of the Kingship of Christ." (Quas primas, #19, 21)

The existence of purgatory — where all those souls who die in the state of sanctifying grace and yet still have to undergo a period of purgation before entering the kingdom of God, because according to Scriptures nothing sin will enter heaven — is a dogma of our Catholic faith.

This is how St. Faustina described purgatory: "I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently for themselves but to no avail for only we can come to their aid. The flames which were burning them did not touch me at all. They answered me in one voice, that their greatest torment was longing for God."

She saw Our Lady visiting these souls. All the Holy Souls in purgatory call her "The Star of the Sea." As she was leaving, St. Faustina heard a voice say to her, "My mercy does not want this, but justice demands it."

The church teaches that once in purgatory, those souls cannot gain any more merit to help themselves. They rely on our charity, our prayers, our sufferings and our sacrifices. But even if we should forget those in purgatory, Our Lady cannot forget them because she loves all her children, especially those who need her most.

Our Lady once said to St. Bridget, "I am the Mother of all the souls in purgatory, and I am Mother of Mercy to these my children who are in the greatest need of my assistance, since in their torments they cannot help themselves."

St. Bernardine of Siena says "that in that prison where souls that are spouses of Jesus Christ are detained, Mary has a certain dominion and plentitude of power not only to relieve them but even to deliver them from their pains."

Again, she told St. Bridget that as a compassionate Mother, she condescends to go herself often into that Holy Prison to visit and comfort her suffering children.

To her children who are devoted to the recitation of the Holy Rosary every day, Our Lady promises "to personally deliver them from purgatory herself." That promise is pictured in the painting of the Last Judgment by Michelangelo, where Our Lady is seen pulling two souls out of purgatory by means of the chain of the Holy Rosary.

And how about Our Lady's second great scapular promise known as the "Sabbatine Privilege," which was given by the Blessed Virgin Mary to Pope John XXII in the year 1322: "Those who wear the Scapular and fulfill two other conditions (Chastity and Prayer) can obtain early liberation from Purgatory, through the special intercession of the Virgin Mary, on the first Saturday after their death, the day consecrated to her."

St. Bernadine of Siena said the Blessed Virgin has the power of delivering souls from purgatory, but more particularly those who were most devoted to her.

The church teaches that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the most effective means of assisting souls in purgatory. Another effective means is reciting the rosary. By the rosary, we offer to God all the merits of Our Lord in union with Mary for the suffering souls.

How much it must please Our Lady when we offer the rosary in union with her to liberate her suffering children from that holy prison to be with her in heaven, and in the process, she promises to also liberate us from that prison to be with her forever.

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm. 

Weekly meditation has resumed. Every Tuesday, from 7 - 7:45 pm, a group meets in the sanctuary to practice the Silence, Stillness, and Simplicity of Christian meditation. We belong to the World Community for Christian Meditation, which teaches meditation as a form of prayer to be close to Jesus. 

If you have any question, please contact Vivian Lee, WhatsApp or Tel: 6100 0880.

Would your child like to serve at Mass? We are in need of new servers.

We train all acolytes before their first Mass, and both the Priest and the other acolytes will help them during the service. Many children find serving at Mass far more engaging and meaningful than attending in the pews.

We set up the Acolyte Schedule based on your availability. Your child is not expected to serve every week--only when they are available.

Please contact Kym Kettler-Paddock at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if your child might be interested or if you have any questions. 

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).

The master in today's parable stands for Christ. The servants stand for each one of us. That's the first lesson we should think about. Do we think of ourselves as servants, as dependent on God?

In this fallen world, most people tend to think of themselves as the center of the universe. And our contemporary society, so full of technological power and easy pleasures, increases that tendency of our fallen nature.

But this parable and many others are very clear: we are not God; we are not the center of the world; we are dependent upon God and our job in this life is to know him, love him, and serve him.

Only by doing that will we find the happiness we desire, because doing that is what we were created for. Squirrels were created to be cute and bury nuts. Humans were created to know, love, and serve God.

And the parable also tells us how we are supposed to do that. God has given each of us a certain number of "talents." In Greek that word referred to a large sum of money. In the actual meaning of the parable, however, it refers more to what the English word implies - all the abilities and blessings we have received from God.

God has given them to us, and we are free either to squander our gifts, burying them in the hole of self-indulgence, fear, laziness, and greed, or to use them as Christ would have us use them, which is the secret to happiness in this life and the life to come.

There are three steps we must follow in order to invest our gifts well - from a supernatural perspective.

First, we must identify what our gift is. We should always thank God for all countless blessings, but we should also reflect on the one or two strong characteristics, traits, or talents that God has given us personally.

The second step is to get right with God and stay that way. The third servant left his life-mission unfulfilled because he didn't have a good relationship with his master.

We will follow his tragic path unless we pray daily, clean our consciences every week or every month by going to confession, and continue to study the Bible and Church teaching; this is how we get to know our Lord and Savior and stay connected to the vine; and unless we do that, our talents will bear no fruit.

The third step: put our gift at the service of others. Be creative, be courageous, be like Christ! He left us his new commandment - to love one another as he has loved us.

Today Jesus will give us yet again the perfect example of this self-giving in this Mass, through the Eucharist. When we receive him in Holy Communion, let's promise that starting this week, we will go out and courageously invest our God-given gifts. 

Man is composed of body, soul and spirit. When a man dies, his body corrupts, but the soul does not die. According to our Christian faith, it will be raised by Christ on the last day. That is why death is not the end of our life. The soul goes on to live in eternity. It has to leave this world and take either of the two destinations: heaven or hell; eternal life or eternal damnation. It is not God's will that man goes to hell. He wants all men to be saved. But there are those who are condemned to hell, not because God likes it, but because they have willfully rejected God. And God cannot do anything about that because He has to respect the freedom of man. God cannot force a man to go to heaven if he wants to go to hell.

When the soul goes to hell, there is no more chance of getting out. The fire in hell is eternal, and the main cause of the sufferings of the souls in hell is the total and final absence of God. There is no possibility of seeing God anymore. The soul that does not go to hell is destined for heaven. Ordinarily a soul cannot go direct to heaven. It has to go through a process or stage of purification so that it will be worthy to face God. When we commit a mortal sin, we go to sacramental confession. The sin is erased through the absolution in the sacrament. But the temporal punishments of sin still remain. They are like the scars or stains of the soul. When a man dies, his soul will not anymore go to hell because his sins have been forgiven. But he has to undergo purification because of these temporal punishments of sins. That is purgatory.

The fire in purgatory is the same fire in hell. But while the souls in hell are violently suffering in eternal fire and they are cursing and angry because they know there is no more way out and no more possibility of seeing God, the souls in purgatory, on the other hand, are patiently enduring the pains of purification because they know that this is only for some time and they are assured of heavenly glory and union with God for eternity. Nevertheless, they are still suffering.

That is why we refer to the as the "poor souls in Purgatory." They are "poor" in the sense that they are suffering, and secondly, because they cannot do anything more for themselves. They totally rely on the prayers and sacrifices of their loved ones in their behalf. Their suffering is caused mainly by two reasons: first, the pains of purification; and second, the state of being so near God but they still cannot see God because they are not yet worthy and ready.

But in God's abundant mercy, and through the rich deposits of divine graces in the Church, there is a way for the faithful to cleanse his soul while still in this world, so that when he dies, he can be exempt from the fires of purgatory. This is by gaining indulgences. "An indulgence is the remission in the sight of God of the temporal punishment due for sins, the guilt of which has already been forgiven" (can. 992, Code of Canon Law). A plenary indulgence cleanses all temporal punishments; a partial indulgence only partially cleanses them. So, it is possible for a soul to go direct to heaven if he has gained a plenary indulgence for himself. Moreover, he can also apply this indulgence to a soul in purgatory by way of suffrages. One plenary indulgence will send a soul in purgatory to heaven. When that soul reaches heaven, he will definitely intercede before God in behalf of the person who gained for him the plenary indulgence.

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm. 

Weekly meditation has resumed. Every Tuesday, from 7 - 7:45 pm, a group meets in the sanctuary to practice the Silence, Stillness, and Simplicity of Christian meditation. We belong to the World Community for Christian Meditation, which teaches meditation as a form of prayer to be close to Jesus. If you have any question, please contact Vivian Lee, WhatsApp or Tel: 6100 0880.

Wisdom is personified in today's First Reading, which is one way that the Old Testament has of speaking about God: personified Wisdom.

In this reading, Wisdom is given two key characteristics. First, she is someone eager to bring her gifts to us. But second, at the same time, Wisdom depends on our being eager to receive them.

This is because our relationship with God is a kind of friendship; it is based on freedom and love. He won't force himself on us; he respects us too much. He wants our love and our friendship, not our slavery.

So he invites, but has to leave it up to us to respond. "Wisdom hastens to make herself known…" the First Reading tells us, but "whoever watches for her… shall not be disappointed."

The right attitude of our hearts in relation to God, then, is active searching, which results from cultivating a deep desire for God. This is what today's Psalm is all about: "My soul is thirsting for you."

And this ties in to today's Gospel passage. The foolish virgins didn't prepare themselves adequately for the wedding feast. They didn't take it seriously.

They were careless and superficial in their relationship with the bridegroom, not eager, intelligent and active in their pursuit of wisdom. It's as if they called themselves Christians and it appeared on the outside that they were, but it was just appearances.

Their lamps were empty; they did not lead deep lives of prayer; they did not love Jesus Christ in their hearts; they did not truly seek the Lord.

What is God asking us do right now? Has he put something on your conscience recently? Is there a relationship that you need to fix, or perhaps to finish? Is there someone you need to forgive?

Do you merely need to renew your commitment to the ABCs of being a Catholic: daily prayer, regular communion and confession, supporting the Church, a reasonable ongoing effort to know what the Church teaches?

God doesn't want our lamps to run out of oil. He wants his light to keep shining in our hearts, for our own benefit, and for the benefit of those around us, now and forever. But he won't force us to fill up that lamp and keep it filled.

Today, as he comes again to offer himself to us and for us in the Eucharist, let's tell him that we will do our part, whatever it may be. Let's make that promise today, and then during this week, let's keep it. It's the wise thing to do, and no one really wants to be a fool. 

 Why is it important for the Church to name certain individuals as "saints"? In this case, "saint" is actually much more than just a title of honor. Because the Church is confident that these "holy ones" are now in heaven, Catholics are urged not only to imitate their holiness, but also to ask for their assistance.

Those who have been perfected and are now face to face with God in heaven — that is, the "saints" in the latter sense of that word — have a share, Scripture tells us, in His divine nature (see 2 Pt 1:4). This insight helps us understand the Church's teaching about what we call the Communion of Saints — that is, the fellowship, the sharing, of the saints.

The perfected saints, having a share in God's own nature, have a share in His perfect love. They love those of us still on earth as God loves us. They want to help us; they want to see us reach heaven as well. So they have the desire to assist us in any way they can.

The perfected saints also have a share in God's perfect knowledge. They are able, through His grace, to know what's taking place on earth. God allows them to see and hear what He sees and hears, so they can hear the requests we may make of them.

The perfected saints have a share in God's perfect, supernatural power. They are able, through His grace, to act on our behalf, to intervene in earthly affairs, just as He does. They don't just pray for us; they can act on our behalf in other ways as well.

Scripture tells us, "The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful" (Jas 5:16). If that's true of righteous people still on earth, think how powerful and effective is the prayer of the saints in heaven, who have been perfected in righteousness!

Some Christians think we shouldn't ask the saints for help because God would somehow be displeased if we went to them for help rather than going directly to Him. But the truth is that all Christians ask other Christians on earth to pray for them and to help them in other ways. Yet when we do that, we don't worry about not going to God directly for help.

Why not? Because we understand the principle that it pleases God to have His children helping one another. That's why He commands us in Scripture to "pray for one another" (Jas 5:16).

Veneration of the Saints

Showing honor is a natural human response to the goodness, even the greatness, of another human being. We honor the founders and other leaders of our country from throughout history. We name cities after them, write books about them, make statues of them to erect in public places. We paint pictures of them to display in schools and government buildings. We speak reverently and gratefully of them on patriotic holidays.

We do similar things for great scientists, great leaders of social movements, great artists and musicians. Why? Because it's a matter of justice to recognize their gifts and contributions to us. Justice means giving to each his due, and we recognize that we owe much to these great human beings, and we want to say so in different ways.

In all these ways, we are venerating these great men and women. And so, we shouldn't be surprised that the Catholic Church venerates the great heroes of the Faith, who over the centuries have embodied in an extraordinary manner the way of life to which we're called as Christians. Now that these men and women have been perfected by God and are saints standing face to face with Him in heaven, we have even more reason to venerate them.

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.

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.

• There is a second collection this weekend. The total amount collected will be reserved for the Pontifical Work for the Propagation of the Faith and sent directly to the Holy See as a contribution of our Local Church to the missionary activities of the Universal Church.
• Taizé prayer will be held on 30 October 2020 (Friday) at 8:00 PM in the church. We welcome everybody to come and participate.
• 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 "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.