Pope Benedict XVI to Resign on February 28, 2013

This is definitely very sad news for me personally. In the last few years, I've read the Holy Father extensively. I admire his traditionalist viewpoint, scholarly insights, and uncompromising opposition to relativism which mistakes personal penchants for religious practices, and individual ideology for cosmic truth. He and JPII are like two very close spiritual fathers to me. I am going to miss him very much.

At this crucial moment of the Church, which is but one of many in 2000 years of her history, let's pray for the Holy Father's personal health and for the Church as she awaits a new leader.

On a more cheerful note, as great as JPII and BXVI are, we know that Christ - not even St. Peter - is the Church's true rock and foundation. Surely there will be days ahead when we will be "sifted like wheat" (cf. Lk. 22:31), as Satan is prone to do throughout Church history. But Christ will be there to ensure she continue to battle well so that the forces of evil will never prevail (cf. Mt.16:18).

My Early Retirement – 4 Years Later

On this spiritual journey of faith that is full of good companions and exciting activities, the Good Lord is constantly sending people my way: people whose hearts He has touched in one way or another; good followers of Christ who work with me to spread the Gospel; friends whose lives and mine are in some ways intertwined because we share the same passion about the Catholic faith and the Church, or we have a good fit in personality, or we can engage in discussions meaningful and intelligible to each other. I accept it as part of my ministry to interact and care for these people whom God brings into my life and makes them special to me. This morning I had a good chat over coffee with a church friend who had retired only a month ago. After a brief exchange of pleasantries and a cursory review of a project we were working on, our attention quickly turned to her life after retirement, for which I gave her a special greeting card containing a note I hastily scribbled before coming to the meeting as follows:

Retirement is not about golfing and cruise trips; it’s rather one’s last chance for self-emptying and complete self-giving.

This pretty well sums up how I see retirement. It is no “piece of cake”, no time for “enjoying life” (if enjoying life is understood as indulging in earthly pleasures), no more time to waste. It’s our last chance to make up for past errors and failures; to catch up on below expectation progress; to make life fulfilling and meaningful. It is make or break; it is dead serious. As we cruise into our twilight years, many of us have failed to achieve the only goal that counts: living a fulfilling and meaningful life. Older but hopefully wiser, bruised but hopefully tougher, we must make up for lost ground before the last flicker of light disappears on us and leaves us in complete darkness.

Four years ago, I decided that my life had reached a new crossroads, and that God’s will was for me to enter into a new level of self-emptying and self-giving. (See My Early Retirement Story - a 5-part series on this blog.) I accepted the challenge – hence my decision to take early retirement. In four years of retirement, I was totally unencumbered by the daily chores and earthly obligations necessitated by one’s need to make a living. Have I been able to make good use of this special privilege from God? Retirement is an invitation to love in a deeper way, to give with greater generosity, and to do God's will with utmost urgency. What have I done in response to God’s invitation? What progress, if any, have I made to enable my inner self to become smaller – small as a child - as my physical self continues to age as an adult? How well have I fared in achieving the lofty ideals that God requires of me – complete self-emptying, complete self-giving? Retirement, after all, is a blessing; not in the sense that now we can indulge in earthly pleasures that we couldn't have while working, as people are often inclined to believe, but in the sense that God has graciously granted us a second chance to do what many of us have failed to do - living in complete sanctification.

These are tough, tough questions to answer. But answer them I must; if not now, then certainly on the day of reckoning before God. If I can’t answer them well today, I won’t be able to answer them any better when kneeling in front of the judgment seat of Christ. Trust me, I ask myself these questions almost everyday, especially in those reflective moments at the Too Good Pond (see article on this blog on Too Good Pond). They are the reason why I do what I do in my retirement. Retirement, after all, is serious business!

A Day in The House of The Lord

The last Sunday was not a day a Torontonian would consider as normal for December: temperatures hovering at around 6 Celsius, overcast skies, and drizzles that turned into rain sometimes. With umbrella in hand, Josephine and I ducked our heads as we hurried past the scaffolding at the side entrance of St. Michael’s Cathedral where renovation was in progress, to merge into the Cathedral’s regular Sunday crowd consisting of curious tourists and regular church-goers alike. Many members of our family group had already arrived, either sitting in the pews to marvel at the art works in the ceiling above or kneeling down to pray. Our itinerary for the day was jam-packed: noon Mass at the Cathedral, lunch at Eaton’s Centre, the St. Michael’s Choir Christmas concert at 3 p.m. in the Massey Hall, and then dinner to conclude a long day. Still feeling the effect of the international Year of the Laity webcast we participated in several hours earlier at the Chinese Martyrs Catholic Church in the wee hours of 12:30 to 4:00 a.m., our heads were fogged with sleep and our legs a little wobbly. We could only hope we would have enough strength to finish the itinerary!

The timing could not have been more perfect: the noon Mass was about to begin in 20 minutes - just enough time for some of us to do the required obligations for obtaining the special plenary indulgence that the Holy Father granted the Church on the commencement of the Year of Faith (see my other post on this topic).

No sooner had we finished the indulgence obligations than the Mass liturgy started. Joining the entrance procession were almost 100 St. Michael's Senior Choir members who proceeded solemnly to the front with their eyes fixated on the crucifix at the altar. After the lengthy and orderly procession, the Mass celebrant stepped on the altar, turned to face the congregation, bowed to kiss the altar table, and began the Mass with that unmistakable voice of his - a voice that conveyed both love and wisdom; a voice that the City had come to know so well - the voice of Thomas Cardinal Collins!

Kyrie eleison! (Lord! Have mercy!)chanted the St. Michael's Choir; Kyrie eleison! the Mass faithful responded. The chant in Latin struck a chord in my heart because it was only two days ago that I explained to my Catechism Revisited class that Kyrie or Krios in Greek was from God's Hebrew name YHWH. It was used in the New Testament to address Jesus (e.g. John 20:28), suggesting its recognition of his divinity (see CCC 446). The Choir's heavenly chants in Latin and many other spirit-lifting hymns that followed turned out to be, as it were, a premiere of the afternoon concert.

The readings of the third Sunday of Advent were an exhortation on repentance and joy, both were long overdue and must be embraced by those who chose to follow God because the Messiah had come.

"Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! The LORD has removed the judgment against you!" the prophet Zephaniah proclaimed joyfully in the first reading.

"Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel!" intoned the chorus of the responsorial psalm.

"Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say: rejoice!" St. Paul joined in in the second reading.

The gospel reading was from Luke 3:10-18 where St. John the Baptist gave the people of the time a stern and fiery admonition on the need of repentance.

Much to my surprise and delight, in his homily the Cardinal used St. Edmund Campion, to illustrate his message that joy was possible even in the face of severe hardships. St. Edmund - my saint - was a 16th century English saint who was accused of treason by the government of Queen Elizabeth I for opposing Henry VIII's schismatic Anglican church. He was brutally tortured on the rack with the tearing off of his fingernails, and was eventually executed by hanging, drawing, and quartering on December 1, 1581. The Cardinal pointed out that St. Edmund accepted his execution with great joy for, in the words of St. Edmund, "To be condemned with these old lights (i.e. all the ancient priests, bishops, and kings of England who defended the Catholic faith) is both gladness and glory to us" (Weidenkopf & Schreck, Epic - A Journey Through Church History Study Set, p.174).

I had to close my eyes to suppress the burning sensation that was beginning to erupt and spill over from my heart. Already my eyes were moistening up and I could feel the lump that was hardening in my throat. "Is this a mere coincidence, O Lord?" I prayed in silence. "Only a few days ago I was listening, while driving, to the story of St. Edmund. And here we are on the third Sunday of Advent, in a cathedral church designated by the Holy Father as necessary for receiving plenary indulgence, You told me his story again through the Cardinal's homily. Before that my heart was burning on hearing Kyrie eleison. How badly has my heart been yearning for beautiful liturgies and You granted me one today! Forgive me for being presumptuous, Lord, but I must take this as Your confirmation that my request for indulgence has been granted and I thank You! Blessed be the saints for it's on account of their merits and the merits of Christ in the treasury of the Church that You granted me the indulgence. How good it is to live in the house of the Lord! 'One thing I ask, O Lord, and this I seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life!' (Psalms 27). May the same grace be granted to Josephine and to all family group members who came before You today to seek this extra-sacramental grace of remission of temporal punishment for our sins! Amen! Amen! St. Edmund, pray for us!"

The same liturgical procession that began the Mass in great reverence and solemnity an hour ago now exited with joy. The Cardinal chatted lightheartedly with people whom he recognized, and blessed everyone as he left the church. As the crowd dispersed, we lingered at the altar and stayed for a group picture. When it was all said and done, we saw to our surprise the Cardinal strolling leisurely up the aisle again to greet us. He stopped to talk to Matthias, the 8-year old son of Dominic and Fanny, members of our family group. Matthias had just become a junior member of the St. Michael's Choir, and it was his very first concert that our group had come to see. "Are you the Pope?" Matthias asked the Cardinal, seeing that the vestments he wore were very unusual. "Well, not quite. I am, er, a Cardinal; the person who, er...," apparently at a loss of words as he struggled to explain his "complicated" position to a child. Suddenly his eyes lighted up and he continued, "Actually the Pope is my boss, you see, and I listen to him." We couldn't help but burst into laughter. So did Matthias, who seemed satisfied with the answer.

May your Christmas be filled with peace and great joy! May this New Year bring you hope and good health! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!!

Fountain of Love and Life (FLL) Gala - What An Evening!

What an evening! It started out just like another FLL Gala: The attendance was impressive, but then people were used to seeing a big crowd at the Gala; the display booths had a good variety but overall nothing spectacular; the MCs,Christina and Hoppa, were a dynamite twosome as usual, but the long list of housekeeping items, sponsors and supporters that they rattled off got a little tedious and was soon drowned out by the chatters of the audience. I was thinking: if our goal was to avoid any unnecessary challenges or doubts by just going through the motions at a time when the new ministries and the new organization of FLL were mostly still in formulation, the result definitely had been so far so good.

Then the tide began to turn. When it did the impact was more like a tsunami than a mere tidal wave. First came Fr. Chui's sharing, whose quiet demeanor and down to earth language belied his passion and strong attachment to God that the audience would not have noticed if not for Christina's inquisitive questions and patient interviewing skills. I’m sure the Gala organizers didn’t mean to put Frances Yip’s witness story there to demonstrate the differences between a quiet and reserved speaker and a very expressive one. But people couldn't help but notice the differences when Frances Yip's interview appeared on screen. Was she good in expressing herself! No doubt she brought tears to the eyes of many in the audience. I for one was mightily impressed by her sharing and had to change my view about this singer from Hong Kong whom I had never thought too highly of. David and Christina’s heart-wrenching story brought an already quiet conference centre to a complete hush. I have attended all eight FLL Galas, but never have I seen an audience as subdued as the one last evening due to the seriousness of the matter being discussed! If doubts still lingered as to whether God was doing his work among the various Chinese Catholic communities, the powerful summation of the three witness stories with Frances Yip singing prayerfully in the background was more than enough to dispel them all.

Just when the audience thought it had had more than it could bargain for in as far as faith witnessing, Paul Yeung, the FLL Director came on stage to deliver the speech of his life. His passionate and spirit-lifting plea for financial support for the newly incorporated FLL, whose many-faceted ministries were nicely captured by the theme of the evening – Faith Mosaic, clearly had a powerful impact on the audience who on this evening turned up in more than 1,000 strong. It was not a scene I had seen very often, but one could hear a pin drop when Paul asked the audience, who had generously supported FLL when it started the TV/radio ministry from scratch 8 years ago, to once again support from scratch the new, many-faceted FLL evangelization ministries even if it meant no tax receipts for their donations due to the fact that the new entity was not yet a charity.

The dead silence of the audience, as it turned out, demonstrated not cynicism or distrust; but rather a concern out of love, a resolve to help, and a solidarity that translated into action. At least from where I sat, I could see many people opening up their wallets and filling out the donation forms with eagerness and unreserved generosity. Once again, when taunted - when trials and ordeals appeared to look us right in the eyes, we as a faith community were able to stand our ground, rising up to the occasion to confront the challenge out of love for Christ. I was so touched I had to go to the back stage to congratulate Paul personally. As I entered, he was there loitering around like a dazed man who had no idea what it was that he had just said. I gave him a big hug and told him his speech was outstanding because it wasn’t his. On this evening, in a conference centre filled will Chinese Catholics more than a thousand strong whose hearts beat as one, the Holy Spirit was a-movin'; He had spoken.

The More Things Change....

Temperatures dropped noticeably in the last few days. Dotting the bare tree tops and the desolate shrubs here and there were sparse remnants of autumn leaves of various colours that hung tough stubbornly to brave the gusting winds that swirled around and about to clear the landscape for another winter.

Armed with a cup of coffee in hand and my jacket tightly zipped up, I stepped out from the warm and cozy interior of the Starbucks on Main Street Unionville to breathe in the chill of another crisp and windy November day, taking heed not to trip over the tiny Yorkshire terrier that kept poking its head inside the door to look for its owner. As I turned the corner to go into the parking lot, a Chinese woman who looked about my age came up to me wearing an apologetic smile.

“Do you know how to go from here to Feng Tai (Foody Mart)?” she asked in Mandarin. Feng Tai (Foody Mart) was a Chinese grocery in the neighbourhood. It took about 5 minutes to drive there.

“Sure! You take this road up there and go in that direction. At McCowen, you turn right until you reach Highway 7 and you will see it,” I replied using my very limited Mandarin, gesturing this way and that with my hand at the same time.

Her face lit up on finding that I was able to help. But a visible trace of doubt crossed her forehead as soon as she heard the English road names. Apparently she hardly knew any English. She repeated the road names with some difficulty, thanked me, and then walked away. I wished I could make it clearer for her, but unfortunately that’s the best my Mandarin would allow me to do.

As my car exited from the parking lot, I was surprised to see the same woman walking in the direction of Feng Tai (Foody Mart) together with a man who appeared to be her husband. It was only then that I realized the couple was not driving! They were about to go there on foot; low temperatures, gusty winds and all! I pulled my car beside them and told them I could give them a ride. They hesitated. But when I insisted they eventually got into the back seats with the expressed condition that they pay me.

On our way to Feng Tai (Foody Mart), we chatted. The woman told me they came from Beijing to stay with their son for good. They had one grand child; both their son and daughter-in-law were working. They had been in Canada for only a month and they found it very difficult to adapt to the new environment, the people, and the language in particular. Things didn’t really go too well for them in this foreign land; so bad they were wondering if they should return to Beijing.

Well, that sounded a lot like my mother-in-law some 20-25 years ago! We were then a young family with a baby – Michelle; she was a new immigrant trying hard to blend in to the kind of life in Toronto where her only daughter lived. Going back even further, didn’t this unhappy couple look somewhat like me – a foreign student in Windsor learning to master the language I needed to complete my degree, to cope with the “terrible” and expensive Canadian food of the university cafeteria, and to make sense of the “funs” of my fellow dorm residents whose after class entertainments were always hockey, hockey, and more hockey?

From foreign students in the seventies to Cantonese-speaking Chinese from Hong Kong in the eighties and nineties to now the Mandarin-speaking Chinese from China – the more things change, the more they stay the same! We Chinese immigrants in a foreign land, a land we now call home, have so many stories of tears and hardships - stories that are lived and re-lived year after year, generation after generation.

“Here we are! Thank you so much! We must pay you before we go!” the woman said cheerfully, waking me up from my deep reflection.

Desperate to stop her from doing any such things, I decided to appeal to her heart: “No, it’s not necessary! We are all Chinese!” On that, she gave me an understanding smile and a grateful glance, got off my car, and disappeared with her husband into the hustling crowd.

We are all Chinese - it's hard to believe I said that and in saying so put myself squarely in the same camp as the Mandarin-speaking people from China. Don’t get me wrong, this is no attempt on my part to put myself in a class superior to the people from Mainland China. Not when we share the same ancestors; not when their history is my history and their culture my culture; not when both of us take pride in the same ancient civilization; more importantly, not when we share the same tears and harships that most immigrants have experienced. It is rather an honest expression of a sentiment harboured by most people from Hong Kong who like me are accustomed to seeing ourselves as first and foremost the citizens of a free and democratic society, first of Hong Kong – our birth place - and now of Canada. Like my fellow immigrants from Hong Kong, I see my languages as Cantonese and English, not Mandarin. While we are all Chinese, there are also social, political, and linguistic differences between us that are more than trivial. My overture to put myself in their midst must have sounded a little unusual even to the said couple.

But then again, to really think about it: it is only my fault that I still can’t speak Mandarin, and it is not their fault that their country enjoys no freedom. Significant though they are, our differences can be bridged and, if not bridged, overlooked; but not without some effort and understanding from both parties of course.

US Election

This is a message I sent to my Lo's family members in the States on election day. I think it's worthy of being posted on my own blog too:

I hope all of you would vote for Romney today!! The last time I checked, almost all of you believe in God. After 4 years of "Godless" policies and measures taken by a so-called "Christian" president, the Americans should vote for a leader who truly believes in God, who truly cares about God's will. Most countries in the world like Obama, particularly those who hate or loathe America including communist China. This is because he's a weak president. Who wouldn't like a weak enemy? Remember the Reagan years, my friends, or, I should say, my dear brothers, sisters and family members? Remember the kind of America, the kind of country, you used to be so proud of? Those glory days were no dream; they can happen again, only not under Obama. Hope the Americans would come to their senses today! At least I hope the Americans in Lo's would come to their senses when they go to the voting polls!!

Catechism Revisited Program DVD Part II Now Available!!

The Catechism Revisited Program (CRP) is a program conducted by Edmond Lo, the author of this blog, for the purpose of helping all Cantonese speaking Catholics to understand better and deepen their Catholic faith. It tackles head-on many key apologetic issues. For example:

- Does the Catholic Bible contain "apocrypha" (false books)?
- Is veneration of Mary a form of superstition?
- Is the doctrine of purgatory an unscriptural concept?
- Is the Roman Catholic Church instituted by Christ?
- Is the Catholic Church just a huge bureaucratic organization with multi-layers of power-hungry "office holders" that include the Pope, the Cardinals, the Archbishops, Bishops, etc.?
- Is the Mass liturgy filled with ancient, meaningless and superstitious rituals?
- Is the Eucharist a form of idolatry?
- Why is confession necessary? What about the believers of other Christian denominations who are not required to do confession? Will their sins be forgiven?

It also shows the program participants how to read the Bible properly so that their understanding of the Bible is derived from the Sacred Tradition of the Church and is in accordance with the teaching of the Church Magisterium.

In October 2011, the Fountain of Love and Life published and distributed the DVD of CRP Part I, which contained the first ten sessions of the program. One year later, CRP Part II, containing the remaining nine sessions of the program, has also been released. Both DVDs come with session notes and MP3 files that can be downloaded for listening. They are now available for purchase at $10/each (i.e. $20 for both Parts I & II) from the Fountain of Love and Life Bookstore. Please obtain the CRP DVDs now if you have not already done so. With the Christmas season drawing near, consider buying some extra copies as gifts for your friends and relatives. If the speaker's own personal experience is any indication, the program may just be the watershed of your spiritual life from where your personal faith will take off and never turn back!