3rd Sunday of Easter - The Mystery of the Risen Christ Continues to Unfold

Readings for the 3rd Sunday of Easter - Year A:
Acts 2:14, 22-33; 1 Peter 1:17-21; Luke 24:13-35

The readings of the 3rd Sunday of Easter include a bold proclamation of the resurrection (Acts), a moral exhortation for the newly baptized (1 Peter) and the appearance of the Risen Jesus to two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke). Each text illumines a different feature of the Easter mystery in which believers are immersed during this season. In this reflection, we will ponder the drama of the Emmaus narrative.

Devastated by “the things that have been happening there these last few days” in Jerusalem, the two disciples of Jesus were leaving the city – their place of sorrow and despair. Sounds familiar? We hate to admit it, but the truth is: we are the two disciples. When confronted with problems, when overwhelmed by heart-breaking experiences, we often choose to run!

Like other resurrection appearances, this one is marked by delayed recognition: when they saw Jesus, they recognized him not. In Luke’s words, “their eyes were prevented from recognizing him”. Anger, vengeance, fear, despair, bewilderment, other emotions and human frailties can often keep us from seeing the truth.

Then something very interesting happened. While they were having meal with Jesus, “their eyes were opened and they recognized him”! How did this come about? Apparently, the disciples recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread; in the actions of taking, blessing, breaking, and giving – the familiar ones highlighted in the feeding of the five thousand and the last supper! When our priests use the same actions to celebrate the Eucharistic liturgy, will our eyes also be opened wide to recognize Jesus in the bread and wine?

Rejuvenated and enlightened, the disciples returned to Jerusalem, the place that they had rejected, to share their joyful and mystical experience of encountering the Risen Christ. As Christians, our Jerusalem is this world, which we often wish to flee. Now that we are also rejuvenated and enlightened by the Easter mystery, let us follow the example of the two disciples to bravely embrace the world, sharing our joy and hope with those who have yet to experience the grace of encountering the Risen Christ!


References:
3rd Sunday of Easter, Year A, Foundations in Faith, RCL, Texas, 1998
Henri Nouwen, With Burning Hearts - A Meditation on the Eucharistic Life, Orbis, Maryknoll, New York, 1994

The Kowloon Walled City - A Sad Chapter That Remains Alive and Well in the History of Hong Kong

You can't possibly watch this video about the Kowloon Walled City (九龍城寨), a 17-minute Wall Street Journal documentary produced in English, without feeling a little down. It also brings back haunting visions and gruesome images for many of us who grew up in Hong Kong because the Kowloon Walled City, while unique, was in many ways a miniature of many middle-to-lower class districts of the former British colony. In fact, the neighborhood I grew up from - Central Tsuen Wan - bore much resemblance to the scenes in the video.

Maybe it was not as bad; but let me tell you, it was pretty darn close. I remember specifically one brutal and heated fight involving 7 or 8 gangsters from two opposing triad groups that unfolded before my very eyes shortly before I left for Canada to study university. It happened in broad daylight in the area where my family lived. The fight was animal like; it was bloody; it was fierce. I stood there, one hand covering my mouth (I could have vomited) and the other stroking my heart; and I told myself I would never, ever want to live in that place again!!

Still four years later, I graduated from university and returned to live in Tsuen Wan for four more years before I managed to leave Hong Kong for good. As we, the people from Hong Kong, glow in the warmth and happiness of this wealthy-looking financial city in the Far East, the shadowy and grim images of the Kowloon Walled City or, for that matter, of Tsuen Wan, which I called home for more than 20 years, are lurking in the background, making a mockery of the former colony’s good name - the Pearl of the Orient - and reminding us of a very dark chapter of her history.

At the same time, we must recognize with grateful hearts that these were the grass-root people who made the mighty engine of the former colony turn in the sixties and seventies when its economy started to take flight. In a very real way, they made Hong Kong what it is today. They also made us, people who came from or live in Hong Kong, who we are. Forget them not when we count our blessings in our prayer.

忙，站在人身旁，顯得很了不起!

忙不是人所喜愛的夥伴，但卻形影不離地跟隨著我們；多數人都很寂寞，卻總有忙這麼一個不想要的朋友。

忙，她很多時是人自己找回來的伴侶；有她總比孤零零一個人好。

忙，她很清楚自己的身價；站在人身旁，顯得很了不起，因為她看透了人的心事，知道人若失去了她，會被其它人恥笑，說他百無聊賴，是社會和人羣的遺棄者。

忙，她就像個無良的私人護理，當長者與她熟識和慣性地依賴她後，她便操控長者的一切，使長者成為她的奴隸，甚至佔據他擁有的一切，使他晚年一無所有。

如洪濤般洶湧而至的emails突然停頓了，相信先前提及，與我重新聯絡的三位老同窗現在都乖乖地，重新帶上「忙」的軛和鎖，一切又回復了「正常」。

我也「忙」於完成to-do list各事項和有關期限：二佰多人參與的逾越晚宴聯絡工作還未展開，晚宴中要講解的道理和slides還未整理好；耶穌受難日的退省講詞還未寫好；要準備和開始出年靈修課程的宣傳；還有天氣轉暖，殘舊的冷氣機要換；還有... 忙!忙!忙!

但今天去完Toogood Pond漫步默想後，我終於忍不著與忙起了爭拗。我告訴她無論她怎麼重要，也不及那多年不見，最近才重新探望我的「友情」重要；我告訴她雖然她使我感到生活充實，但自從我與「友情」重新相遇，我才明白充實的生活是怎樣的。於是我不顧一切，放下「忙」去探望「友情」，再電郵三位老同窗! 並提醒他們，在忙不斷踩踏之下，也不要忘記「友情」在你身旁耐心等待啊!

此刻心中響起The Way的《基督的軛》又稱《忙》...

(閱讀有關文章《順流逆流》)

Old Friends

Top among my list of things to thank the Lord for in my prayer this morning was the blessing of re-establishing communication with three very good former classmates from my secondary school days in Hong Kong - two of them now residing in Hong Kong and the third one in Vancouver.

Using old-fashioned technology – telephone – one of the two former classmates in Hong Kong was able to track down the other one. From there, new - or newer - technology took over: the two of them emailed me, I added in the email of the Vancouver classmate, and suddenly emails were flying in and out of our email boxes like swarming minnows in the waters of Toogood Pond as the four of us scrambled to bring one another up to speed on almost forty years of activities and changes.

The feeling was amazing and at the same time a little strange, joyful and yet a little sad, sweet but inexplicably heart heavy. Everything that we used to know so well about each other – how we wrote, how we expressed ourselves, how we reacted to things, what each one of us liked or didn't like, our different inclinations and emotions, etc. – suddenly became quite unfamiliar. So you observed, you asked, you savored the familiar traits that remained and adjusted to the new ones that caught you off balance - it’s almost like starting all over again! The experience was fascinating and exciting to say the least.

Of the two former classmates in Hong Kong, one is a teacher and a scholar due for retirement in short order; the other one is a former government official but is now retired. The Vancouver friend is not only my former secondary school classmate; we also studied together and graduated from the same university in Canada. Being a financial advisor overseeing numerous investment portfolios, he can’t see how his clients will allow him to retire before 75.

As we get older, we come to appreciate old friends even more. Not only do they bring sweet memories and love; the time you spent with them, the interactions, the mere experience of growing up together, the companionship, the laughter and the tears - every moment of those youthful days has now become an integral part of your life. In a very real way, they are the people who define who you are. This is why I was thankful in my morning prayer: rediscovering a piece of me that had been missing for years. The rediscovery, joyful and sweet as it is, is like a jolt that triggers in my heart, and I'm sure in theirs as well, an eruption of euphoria and nostalgia together with a good mix of sadness and helplessness. Sad because those youthful images still vivid on your mind are in stark contrast to what you see; helpless because you realize that nobody, including yourself, can withstand the unrelenting and ever-forward-moving wheel of time.

Emails are still going back and forth among us as I write. As soon as all the emotions have subsided, our lives would probably return to normal. Tardiness might once again get in our way and we might not hear much from each other. But the friendship that has withstood almost 40 years of inactivity and somehow emerged strong and untarnished will surely continue to live on. For safe and sacred in our hearts is a special quarter carved out specifically for the occupation of this very special inhabitant - our friendship old as wine.

A Second Conversion

In witnessing to God’s love and the power of the Gospel, I often share with people through my church programs and speaking engagements the amazing experience of my personal spiritual conversion in the nineties when moved by the Spirit I started reading Vatican II, Catholicism of the Catholic Church, Church Fathers, Scott Hahn, etc., and eventually ended up studying theology and retiring early to serve God. The conversion was intense, the duration lengthy, and the outcome drastic. My personal comfort zone was destabilized, and my life turned up side down. The experience has helped me to relate well to some of the famous conversion stories in the Bible, particularly those of St. Paul (Acts 9) and St. Peter (Luke 5:1-11).

However, if my conversion in the nineties was like a Big Bang from which my spiritual life emerged anew, my awakening in the subsequent years to the importance of the virtue of humility was akin to another powerful conversion that added substance to my new life and turned the initial big splash into a lasting and sustainable journey.

Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word (Luke 1:38).

Mary’s words of faith, obedience, and humility will always resonate in my heart as I continue to battle to wrestle to the ground the beast in me that speaks deceitful and boastful language “from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet” (Rev 13:16). No less useful in this regard is St. Paul's beautiful teaching below, which has become the guideline that I follow to the letter in using the spiritual gifts that God has graciously given me to minister to Him in our church community:

For by the grace given to me I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think, but to think soberly, each according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned. For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them: if prophecy, in proportion to the faith; if ministry, in ministering; if one is a teacher, in teaching; if one exhorts, in exhortation; if one contributes, in generosity; if one is over others, with diligence; if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness (Romans 12:3-8).

Deceiving Dreams and Crafty Speeches of the Politicians

Olivia Chow had just delivered a 15-minute speech to launch her campaign to become the mayor of Toronto. It was a very good speech - a typical politician's speech that touched many hearts but provided no specific promises or actions, a spirit-lifting and motivational rally that brought hope which we know will vanish as soon as everyone returns to the political reality of the City. But that's what the politicians do, that's what they are good at, whether it's George W. Bush or Clinton, Jean Chrietien or Harper, Mayor Ford or Olivia Chow. We, the good citizens who will be at the mercy of these political candidates once they are given the authority and power, are like mindless little children: no matter how many times we've been taken to the cleaners, we are still happy to hop on the merry-go-round to enjoy the dreams deceivingly weaved up, and the speeches craftily delivered, by our politicians.

Spring Fever!

It's been a very long winter here in Canada. Windchill of -14°C this morning (-8°C no windchill). Can you imagine!

But the sun is shinning bright. It's March already; March 20 is the first day of spring; and we are moving the clock ahead by 1 hour this Sunday. If my imagination was not playing tricks on me, I think I even heard a bird trying out its long-forgotten tunes this morning.

Hopefully winter would finally let go of its strangling hold on the collective throat of this poor northern nation!