The pregnancy of Mary takes place before she went to live with Joseph, not because of a human deviation, but because of the divine will. God himself made fun of the law of legal purity in such a way as to make the Messiah be born among us!

If Joseph had acted according to the requirements of the law of that time, he would have had to denounce Mary and possibly she would have been stoned. Pregnancy before marriage is irregular and according to the law of legal purity, she should be punished with the death penalty (Deut 22:20).

But Joseph, because he is just, does not obey the requirements of the law of purity. His justice is greater. Instead of denouncing, he prefers to respect the mystery which he does not understand and decides to abandon Mary in secret. The greatest justice of Joseph saves both the life of Mary and that of Jesus.

Thus, Matthew sends an important message to the communities of Palestine and Syria. It is as if he said, "Behold, what would happen if the rigorous observance were followed, which certain Pharisees demand from you! They would put the Messiah to death!" Later Jesus will say, "If your justice is not greater than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt 5:20). 

Due to the holiday season, many members of the Filipino Community Group's volunteers will be going home for Christmas.  For this reason, we need to cancel the 5th Sunday Tagalog Mass temporarily.  It will resume on March 29, 2020. 

• Dec. 22 - 10:00-10:30 - rehearsal for Christmas Midnight Mass
• Dec. 22 - 10:30-11:00 - rehearsal for 4th Sunday of Advent (11:15 Choir)
• Dec. 24 - 3:45-4:45 - rehearsal for Christmas Family Mass
• Dec. 25 - 8:00-8:45 - rehearsal for Christmas Day 8:45 Mass
• Dec. 25 - 10:15-11:00 - rehearsal for Christmas Day 11:15 Mass
• Jan. 1 - 10:15-11:00 - rehearsal for New Year's Day Mass 

We welcome all members of the community, and their guests, family, and friends to join the choir at this Christmas season! 

John the Baptist had given everything to God. He had left his home and his family. He lived in total poverty. And even if you eat them with honey, locusts are still bugs.

John the Baptist had preached the Kingdom of God; he had given everything to prepare the way for Jesus. And what's his apparent reward? He's in prison. It seems that God is hidden from him. He hears about the miracles that Jesus is doing, and yet he remains in prison.

He sends his friends to ask the most important question; everything hinges on this question. He asks Jesus: "Who are you?" "Are you the meaning of my life? Are you the mercy of God made visible? I have given everything – even my freedom – for God. Are you his face among us?"

And the answer that Jesus gives to John's question can seem a bit cryptic. He doesn't say, "Obviously... Of course I'm the one who is to come. All your difficulties and sufferings are over!"

Jesus is telling John, "You don't have to understand everything. You're not God. All I ask is that you listen and look at what I've done and continue to do in your life and in the lives of others."

We all have our John the Baptist moments, when nothing seems clear, when Christmas may seem far away. And in those moments, Jesus is telling us, "Look, and listen." 

On the occasion of our beloved Pope Francis' 83rd birthday, the Holy See Study Mission, together with the Diocese of Hong Kong, is organizing the following events :

• A concert to be held on 15th December, Sunday evening, 8:00 PM at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception at 16 Caine Road.
• A mass to be presided by His Eminence Cardinal John Tong on the 21st December, Saturday afternoon, 5:00 PM at Christ the King Chapel, Causeway Bay.

You are all cordially invited to participate in these joyous events. For details, please refer to the relevant poster.

The Mass schedule for Christmas & New Year 2019-2020 can be found next to the Parish Bulletin at the back of the church. 

As we bid a fond farewell to Fr. Cuff, we welcome Fr. Paulus W. Santoso to St. Anne's as our new parish priest.  

Fr. Paulus was one of the first Carmelites working in Hong Kong.  He moved to Hong Kong in October 2013 from Indonesia.  Fr. Paulus joins us from St. Teresa's Church in Kowloon, where he was the assistant parish priest from Apr 2016.  He might be a familiar face to some parishioners as he had stayed in St. Anne's in the past, and he would also occasionally celebrate Mass when Fr. John (McAuley) was away. 

Starting on 1^st Jan 2020, St. Anne's will have a new assistant parish priest in Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O. Carm. Fr. David may already be a familiar face to many in St. Anne's as we see him occasionally celebrate Mass here.

Fr. David was born on 24^th October 1976, in Surabaya-Indonesia and entered the Carmelite order in 2004, when he was 28 years old. He took his first vows on 15^th July 2007 and was ordained a priest on 16^th October 2014.Carmelite Order Indonesia sent him to Hong Kong for mission and he moved to Hong Kong in March 2015.For eight months he lived in Saint Anne's and then moved to the Shek O Retreat House. He practiced his Cantonese every Sunday at the Star of the Sea Parish for one year, after his Cantonese course. Fr. David enjoys gardening in his spare time. 

Please note that confessions in both Chinese and English will be heard on Friday, Dec 20^th, at 7:30 PM.Two priests will be available.  

Today is enter to the new season of our liturgical calendar. The season of Advent year A. So, what is the reason for another Advent? The word "advent" comes from the Latin "ad-venire", meaning to come to, to come towards.

This season spotlights the three comings of Christ: the first, 2000 years ago; the last, sometime in the future; and the ongoing - Christ's constant coming into our lives through his grace, his providence, and his sacraments.

We live in the final age of human history, the age which will end in Christ's second coming, the destruction of the cosmos as we know it, and the creation of a new heavens and earth - the full establishment of Christ's Kingdom, as today's Readings described.

In today's Gospel, Jesus has explained to his Apostles that the age of the Church will be marked by both wonderful growth and also painful persecution. He has explained that Jerusalem, the epicenter of the Old Covenant, will be destroyed to make definitive way for the New Covenant. He has explained that the world itself will eventually be destroyed to make way for the new heavens and the new earth.

God wants us to know that our time is limited, that our lives and history itself will come to an end. He wants us to know this, because he wants us to use our limited time wisely, living as true Christians.

Jesus considers this lesson to be so important that he dedicates four separate parables to it before he finishes the conversation, driving the lesson home. Jesus knew how easily even the most faithful disciple can fall into the trap of thinking that this earthly life is the goal, and not merely the path.

Fr. Paulus Waris Santoso, O.Carm 

There will be a lector training session on Dec 1^st (Sunday) at 3 pm in the Parish Hall. Please come to brush up your reading skills to become effective proclaimers of God's Word.

The training lasts more or less an hour. New and old lectors are welcomed. For more info, please contact Vivian Lee @ 6100 0880.

We welcome all parishioners and visitors to join the choir for Christmas. If you'd like to join, then please let me know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We especially encourage youth musicians to join the choir for the Christmas Family Mass at 5pm on December 24^th, when many of our regular choir members cannot join.

Due to the holiday season, many members of the Filipino Community Group's volunteers will be going home for Christmas. For this reason, we need to cancel the 5th Sunday Tagalog Mass temporarily. It will resume on March 29, 2020.  

 The Solemnity of Christ the King, which every Catholic throughout the entire world is celebrating today, is a new thing. It was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 in an encyclical letter called Quas primas.

The pope 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.

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 Saviour 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 honour of the Kingship of Christ." (Quas primas, 19, 21)

Fr. Paulus Waris Santoso, O.Carm

St Anne's will hold a pot-luck Christmas Party on Dec 1st at 12:30 in the Parish Hall. Parishioners are asked to bring a dish to share for this pot-luck. There is a suggested donation of $40 or more to cover the cost of drinks and supplies.

As we just celebrated St Anne's 60th Anniversary with a Mass and Dinner, we will not have the Annual Parish BBQ this year. 

Volunteers are needed to help out on Dec 8th at the Cheshire Home Christmas Party. St Anne's will be providing food, a Christmas tree, presents and our Filipino sisters will be performing for the residents of the Cheshire Home. Please contact Linda Law at 9832 0239 or Sister Wu for more information.

The Acolyte Ministry is seeking new members to join a dedicated group of altar servers, particularly during the Saturday vigil mass.You must be at least ten years old and have received your First Holy Communion. Please email AhYoung Chi at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are interested.

In today's Gospel, Jesus defends the truth of the resurrection against the Sadducees' attack for two reasons.

First, there is life after death. Heaven is real, and so is hell. Jesus taught this many times. The New Testament teaches it many times.

Second reason, we live in a fallen world.Sin, self-indulgence, and self-glorification are natural tendencies in this world - even for Christians.

But true happiness, true and everlasting life, is incompatible with sin and selfishness.Therefore, in order to begin experiencing true life now, and to enter into it after we die, we have to go against some strong natural tendencies.

How can we possibly persevere in following Christ when we are surrounded by such difficulties and opposition?One of our best weapons is the Resurrection.

Keeping the bigger picture in mind can, just as it did for the seven brothers in the First Reading, give us the courage we need to resist temptations and stay faithful to Christ - no matter the cost.

Paulus Waris Santoso, O.Carm