My dear brothers and sisters, the late Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical was entitled, "God Is Love" (1 John 4:8). It's something we have all heard many times. In fact, we may have become so used to it that we don't remember how revolutionary and unique that conception of God really is.

There are many religions in the world, and many of them have come to understand that God is good. But almost all of them start with man's search for God. And because human nature is limited, that search can only arrive to a limited view of God.

Christianity is different. Christianity is about God's search for man. When Jesus Christ came to earth, he came to rescue the fallen human race from evil and bring it to the joys of eternal life. And so, in Christianity, we have the privilege of receiving God's own revelation of himself - he shows us, in Christ, who he is and what he is like. And his most fundamental and essential characteristic is love. Not power, not knowledge, not transcendence - but love.

This explains why Jesus came to earth in the first place: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life" (John 3:16).

And this also explains what the Holy Trinity is all about. If God were solitary, how could his nature be love? Love always means relationship and self-giving. God can only be love if he is both one and three: three divine persons, each one fully divine, living from all eternity in an unbreakable unity of mutual love.

God is love. In other words, God is one, as the Catechism puts it, but not solitary (CCC 254).

Theology of the Body

The Catechism teaches us that "The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of Christian life" (CCC 234). This is because we are created in the image and likeness of God, as the Bible tells us.

Therefore, if God's essential nature is love, so is ours! We have a built-in openness to other people. We are incomplete by ourselves. We are created to give ourselves to others and to receive others.

This is the real meaning behind human sexuality - the theological meaning of our bodies. God created us male and female. When a husband and wife come together in marriage, they become one flesh; they give themselves to each other completely, holding nothing back.

This is an image of the love of the Holy Trinity. The Father, from all Eternity, loves the Son and pours himself into the Son, and the Son loves the Father in return. And that mutual love is so complete that the Holy Spirit proceeds from it.

Every human family is an image of this Trinitarian love. The husband gives himself without limits to the wife, and the wife receives him and gives herself in return, without limits. And it is through that total love of mutual self-giving that God brings a new life into the world: a child, called to eternal friendship with God. This is the true sacredness and beauty of married love, of sexual love.

This is why the Church never wavers in issues of sexual morality: human sexuality has a deep theological meaning that we must all honour if we are to live life to the full.

Any time we separate sexual love from that meaning, we not only abuse our very selves, but we also rebel against God, who has created us in his image: the image of self-forgetful love.

Praying Like a Christian

This mysterious and wonderful doctrine about God, that he is both unity and trinity, is called by the Catechism "the central mystery of Christian faith and life" (CCC 234).

Everything in Christianity depends on this mystery, which we can begin to understand in this life because God has chosen to reveal it to us. This helps us understand why Christian prayer is so unique.

Christian prayer is a relationship, a heart-to-heart conversation. Our most basic prayer begins, "Our Father." Since God is love, three persons sharing one divine nature, he is personal. He is not a vague, faceless force that we try to tap into with strange rituals, symbols, dances, or ceremonies. He is not some distant, impenetrable being who simply tolerates our existence.

God, as Christ has shown us, is close to us, understands us, cares about us, and invites us into his friendship. In fact, he even adopts us into his family. That is why we receive a Christian name at baptism. And that is why we don't just go off on our own to meditate on Sundays, but we come together to worship Our Father, as members of his family, the Church.

As a result, whenever we pray, we should approach God with confidence and sincerity, as a child approach loving and wise parents. This applies both to personal prayer, and liturgical, community prayer.

The beautiful liturgy of the Church is full of rituals and symbols, but for us, as Christians, they are all meant to remind us of the beauty of his love, and the great dignity we have received through becoming his children. As we profess our faith today in the one, true God, the Most Holy Trinity, let's take those reminders to heart. 

From childhood, We, Catholics learn to pray the sign of the cross: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit." At Mass, the priest's prayers mention the Father, the Son, and the Spirit as well. The reason for this is that Catholics believe that God is One, but also Trinity.

The mystery of the Holy Trinity is the most fundamental of our faith. On it everything else depends and from it, everything else derives. Hence the Church's constant concern to safeguard the revealed truth that God is One in nature and Three in Persons.

What we mean when we say that God is a Trinity is that there is one divine nature, one divine substance. God, as a Trinity, exists in three Persons. In God, however, three Persons possess the same divine nature. Each divine Person, while not identical to the other divine Persons, is one in being with the other two divine Persons and is fully God. The word we use to describe this in the Nicene Creed is consubstantial. While we say in the Nicene Creed that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, it is also true that the Spirit is consubstantial with the Father and the Son.

Jesus' life was the greatest revelation to us of God's inner life. He claimed for Himself things that belonged only to God, like the power to forgive sins. Jesus also prayed to the Father and spoke to and about the Father as a separate Person. Jesus also promised to send the Holy Spirit to be with his disciples after he was no longer with them in his physical body (John 14:26). After Jesus' death and resurrection and his ascension into heaven, early Christians understood that the Holy Spirit was also God. Yet Jesus was clear when he talked about the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit was someone other than himself or the Father.

God revealed His innermost secret to us, to invite us to share in His inner Life, to imitate the lifestyle of the Divine Family of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What is the core of the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity? The Gospel this Sunday talks about it: Love. God is love. It is perfect love that binds together the three Divine Persons, so that they are not three, but One God. True love always unites. And if we live in love, therefore, we will be united with each other, and more importantly, united with the family of God – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

As a Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit love one another completely and entirely. Love is truly the essence of God's inner life. At times the Trinity may seem like a dull doctrine, but Jesus showed us this truth about who God is to reveal God's inner life to us. God loves us and wants us to know him. God created us out of love, and we are created for love. We are created out of a relationship. Faith in the Trinity, therefore, is not merely a doctrine but a dogma that shows us who God is and who we are as creatures made in his image.

The Trinity is the perfect model of our selfless love. As revelation tells us, within the Godhead is a plurality of Persons, so God is defined as Love because He has within His being, to use our language, the object of love which is an Other with whom each of the Persons can share the totality of their being.

We, therefore, see from reflection on this Triune Love that love by its essence is not self-centered, that love unites, that love gives, and that love shares perfectly within the Godhead. Love is therefore as perfect in us as it approximates the perfect sharing that constitutes the Trinity.

At the same time, we recall that, while perfectly selfless in their mutual sharing of the divine nature, the Persons in the Trinity do not thereby cease to be themselves. Again, this is a lesson for us. We are to give of ourselves generously and without stinting. Nevertheless, we are also to give in such a way that we remain ourselves and not become, as it were, something else in the process of sharing. There is such a thing as calculating charity when a person gives of himself but "not too much" because he fears that his love may be too costly. This is not the teaching of Christ, who told us to love others not only as much as we love ourselves but as much as He loves us. 

1. The St. Anne's Filipino Community will host the traditional May Crowning in honor of our Blessed Virgin Mary, the High Queen of Heaven and the Queen of May. All parishioners are invited to join in this pious activity held on May 28 at St. Anne's Church at 2:00 PM. We will recite two mysteries of the Holy Rosary and make prayer petitions for peace and unity for the whole world. For more information, please call or WhatsApp Lorenda Rafanan at 91079805.  
   
   
2. The month of May is the month of Mary. Families in the parish are encouraged to organize Home Rosary Gatherings this month. Please fill in the roster on the notice board outside the parish office if you wish to organize a gathering. 
   


3. All parishioners are invited to complete a Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong – Catholic Households Registration Form for Parish Renewal. Each family may submit one form that includes all family members. Forms available after mass. Please send completed form to Esther (our St. Anne's parish secretary).
   

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Easter season concludes with Pentecost Sunday, commemorating that day in the budding Church when the Father and the Son poured out the Holy Spirit in a special way on the Apostles, and they took up the mission of proclaiming the Gospel throughout the whole world.

The Holy Spirit throughout the Church's history has showered down gifts upon her to keep her faithful to the teaching she's received from Our Lord, and to keep the fires burning to inspire hearts to turn to Our Lord and be reconciled with God and with man.

In the book of Act of the Apostle, with wind and fire, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the Twelve in a way that cannot be contained. It's a sign no one can ignore. A rushing wind and tongues of fire. It draws a crowd. It's a sign everyone can understand. It goes beyond the barriers of language to help humanity reunite once again in the Spirit. It's the sign everyone has been seeking: the truth about God, the world, and man.

Every point of origin the shocked witnesses mention today was a full-fledged Christian by the time St. Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles. The fire of the Holy Spirit spread like wildfire, uncontainable.

St. Paul in his letter to Corinthians reminds us that the presence and action of the Holy Spirit are often perceived as gifts, gifts for the edification and unity of the Church. The Holy Spirit gifts us the gift of prayer to express in faith that Jesus is Lord.

The spiritual gifts are unified in the Church through their source: the Holy Spirit. The ways we serve are unified in serving Our Lord. All the workings of the Spirit in us come from God. Each gift is for our benefit, another's, or both.

Then St. John reminds us of one of the Spirit's greatest gifts, a gift Our Lord conferred to the Apostles on the eve of his Resurrection: the gift of reconciliation with God. Our Lord first bestows the gift of reconciliation with his dearest friends, the friends who abandoned him in his moment of need: "Peace be with you."

It's no coincidence that he repeats this desire for reconciliation even as he is breathing the Holy Spirit upon them. It is the Holy Spirit who makes reconciliation possible. The Spirit raised Jesus from the dead and gave him new life so that reconciliation would be possible.

One of the most saddening ways to break off a relationship with someone is to say, "You are dead to me." In God's eyes, even in those situations, the Spirit can make that person come alive again through the grace of mercy, whether mercy received or mercy given.

The separation between God and man, recalled by the story of the Tower of Babel, is reversed by the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; in pride, man distanced himself from God and his fellow man, and communication broke down. Through the gift of tongues, the Holy Spirit re-establishes the lines of communication. In the Spirit, man reconciles not only with God but with his fellow man.

Gifts are Given

Sometimes we describe talented people as "gifted." It implies that their talents are not just thanks to their skill but to someone who has given them. Life itself is a gift from God and our parents. Without them, none of our other qualities or talents would exist, much less matter.

A gift implies a relationship between giver and recipient, and not just any relationship. A gift implies fondness, appreciation, and acknowledgment. If you give expecting something in return, you are bribing, not truly giving. The Holy Spirit never needs anything from us, yet the Spirit still showers his gifts upon us.

Just as God and our parents worked together to give us the gift of life, the Holy Spirit wants to work with us to share his gifts with others. At Pentecost we see this play out. The Spirit doesn't just inspire the Twelve; he sends them out to share the Good News, just as Our Lord did on the evening of Easter Sunday.

Take Stock of the Holy Spirit's Gifts in Your Life

The gifts of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday were crowning gifts for the good of the Church and the world. This Sunday is not just a moment to ask the Spirit for more gifts, although they are abundant; it is a moment to take stock of the all the spiritual gifts we have received in gratitude.

People receive gifts that they don't think they need and chuck them in the closet all the time. Have we relegated any of the Holy Spirit's gifts to the closet? St. Paul reminds us today that gifts are for the benefit of someone. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how you can best use his gifts.

With the Spirit's Aid, Make Reconciliation the Gift that Keeps on Giving

In today's Gospel Our Lord connected reconciliation with him and reconciliation with others. The Spirit's gift of reconciliation is the greatest gift we have received, but it has to be the gift that keeps on giving. The Holy Spirit is prepared to breathe new life into any relationship you may have declared dead, but he needs you to take the first step. As a last parting Easter gift, ask the Holy Spirit to help you reconcile with someone in your life with whom you have grown distant.

We believe that the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation indelibly mark us as belonging to Christ. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in these sacraments also makes us more attuned to God's voice in our lives, and it is through the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit that we are strengthened each day in becoming the person that God created each of us to be.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are first mentioned in the Old Testament. The prophet Isaiah describes the ideal Davidic king with these words: The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him:a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord. (Isaiah 11:2-3).

Our Christian faith teaches us that Jesus, the Son of God, expressed each of these attributes of the "spirit of the Lord" in their perfect fullness. Because of our participation in Christ, we, too, are given a share of each of these gifts of the Spirit.

Jesus himself assured us of this when he promised that his Father would send the Holy Spirit upon us in his name, to teach us everything and remind us of all that he told us. (John 14:26) It is through these seven gifts–wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord–that we grow in holiness and are continually reminded of God's loving presence within us and around us.

1. Wisdom is first gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the ability to exercise good judgment. It is grounded in common sense and comes from life experience, thoughtful reflection, and learning life's lessons in "The School of Hard Knocks." Wisdom distinguishes between right and wrong, seeks and upholds truth and justice, and balances personal good with the common good. In the Old Testament wisdom is personified in Sophia, the mythical mother of faith, hope, and love; while in the New Testament wisdom is personified in Jesus himself.

2. Understanding is the gift of intelligence and enlightenment. It is the ability to perceive, comprehend, and interpret information; to have insight and discern meaning.

3. Counsel is good advice. It is the ability to teach and inform, guide and direct, warn and admonish, recommend and encourage. The Holy Spirit offers this special gift to parents, teachers, coaches, mentors, advisors, supervisors, elders, and the like. Counsel is not only the ability to give good advice, but to receive it as well.

4. Fortitude is an unwavering commitment to God or a proper course of action, and it shows itself is moral strength, courage, determination, patient endurance, long suffering, a resolute spirit, stamina, and resiliency.

5. Knowledge is the ability to study and learn; to acquire, retain, and master a wide spectrum of information; and to put it to good use for constructive purposes.

6. Fear of the Lord is awe, reverence, and respect for God. It downplays human self-sufficiency and acknowledges that everything comes from God. Consequently, those who "Fear the Lord" gladly offer their praise, worship, and adoration to God alone.

7. Piety is the only gift not part of Isaiah's original list. Piety is personal holiness, the ability to live a decent life, free of sin, devoted to God, and obedient to God's will.

One particular way that we can grow in our awareness of the activity of the Holy Spirit through these seven gifts is through prayer. God wishes to abundantly share the gifts of the Holy Spirit with each of us; He asks only for our docility and openness in receiving these gifts freely given. Let us pray that we continue to grow from the graces we received at Baptism and Confirmation and to encourage one another along our pilgrim journey! 

My dear brothers and sisters, today we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord. Before the very eyes of his closest followers, 40 days after his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ ascended body and soul into heaven.

What exactly does this word "ascended" mean? Every year on August 15, we celebrate a different feast: Mary's assumption into heaven. The Catechism tells us: Mary was assumed into heaven - was assumed. There's a difference here: Christ ascends; Mary is assumed. Christ is God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity become man.

Jesus is both fully God and fully man, a mystery so great that we cannot understand it completely. Mary is immaculate (free from sin), and she is also the Mother of Christ and, therefore, properly honoured as the Mother of God.

But still, she is only human; she does not possess the divine nature as Christ does. This is why she could not cause herself to ascend into heaven, as Christ did. Instead, God had to take her up into heaven, and so we say that she was assumed.

Christ's ascension, in other words, reveals his divinity, just as his resurrection did. Many people throughout salvation history have been raised or have raised others from the dead with the help of God's power. But only Christ rose from the dead on his own.

As true God, he holds power over life and death; he is omnipotent, all-powerful, "almighty" as we say each week in the Creed. And as true man, Jesus used that omnipotence to conquer death for our sake, to win our salvation, to redeem us. By bringing redeemed human nature up into heaven, he showed that along with being all-powerful, he is also all-good, all-loving.

Christ's ascension, then, reminds us that there is no limit to the confidence we can have in our God, because there is no limit to his power and goodness.

Aesop Enlightens a Judge

The amazing fact of the Ascension lifts our gaze to heaven. Because Jesus is now in heaven, body and soul. We are assured that heaven is not just a nice idea, a myth, or wishful thinking. It is a real place where Jesus has gone ahead to prepare the way for us.

One of Aesop's Fables shows just how new this Christian revelation really was. Aesop was a Greek slave who lived before the time of Christ. He was renowned for his natural wisdom, which was recorded in his famous fables, or short stories with deep lessons.

One day he was ordered by his master to go to the public baths (in ancient times public baths were like country clubs) and get things ready. On his way, he was stopped by one of the official judges of the city.

The judge asked him where he was going. Aesop, thinking that it was none of the judge's business, answered, "I don't know." The judge was offended by this reply, which he considered disrespectful, and marched him off to prison for punishment (disrespectful slaves could be punished without a trial).

When they arrived at the prison, Aesop turned to his captor and said, "Judge, when I told you, 'I don't know where I am going,' I was speaking the truth. Little did I think that I was on my way to prison! You see, it is true indeed that we never really know just where we are going." Faced with this explanation, the judge had no choice but to let Aesop go free.

This ironic story illustrates the absolute uncertainty of pre-Christian humanity about what happens after death - they just didn't know. Neither science, nor philosophy, nor pagan religion could pull back the curtain on the afterlife. Only Jesus Christ has shined a light on this mystery, by his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

Partnering with God

Today the Church is inviting us to reflect on this great mystery of our faith, Christ's ascension into heaven. As we do so, we should feel our confidence in God renewed and strengthened.

Jesus is ruling history right now. None of the difficulties, injustices, and problems that we face as individuals, families, and societies is outside of his knowledge or power. He is at work in all things, even if it is sometimes hard for us to see exactly how.

As today's Mass prayers remind us: "Christ, the mediator between God and man, judge of the world and Lord of all, has passed beyond our sight, not to abandon us but to be our hope" (Preface for Ascension I).

How can we express this hope, this confidence in God? St Ignatius of Loyola had a phrase that can guide us. He used to say that we should pray as if everything depended upon God, and work as if everything depended on us. Each of us has projects, dreams, goals, problems, and challenges in our lives.

This week, encouraged and strengthened by Christ's ascension into heaven, let's pray each morning for God to send his grace and blessing upon them. And then, trusting that God will always do his part, let's roll up our sleeves and do our part. We should pray for a sick relative to be comforted and get well, but we should also go and visit them, bringing them flowers, reading to them, encouraging them.

When Jesus ascended into heaven, he didn't take the members of his Church with him. Instead, he entrusted his mission to their care. That mission, to follow Christ and help others do the same, is still in full swing today. It's in our hands, and if to fulfil our part we do our best, surely God will do the rest.

Heaven as the fullness of communion with God. Heaven is not an abstraction or a physical place, but a living and personal relationship with the Holy Trinity.It is our meeting with the Father which takes place in the risen Christ through the communion of the Holy Spirit.

When this earthly form has passed, those who have welcomed God into their lives and sincerely opened themselves to His love, at least at the time of death, will enjoy the fullness of communion with God that is the goal of human life.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, "this perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed is called "heaven'. Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfilment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness" (n.1024).

Today we will try to understand the biblical meaning of "heaven", in order to have a better understanding of the reality to which this expression refers.

In biblical language "heaven"", when it is joined to the "earth", indicates part of the universe. Scripture says about creation: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gn 1:1).

Metaphorically, heaven is understood as the dwelling place of God, which is thus distinguished from human beings (cf. Ps 104:2f.; 115:16; Is 66:1). The depiction of heaven as the transcendent dwelling-place of the living God is joined with that of the place to which believers, through grace, can also ascend, as we see in the Old Testament accounts of Enoch (cf. Gn 5:24) and Elijah (cf. 2 Kgs 2:11). Thus heaven becomes an image of life in God.

The New Testament confirms the idea of heaven in relation to the mystery of Christ. Because believers are loved in a special way by the Father, they are raised with Christ and become citizens of heaven. It is worthwhile listening to what the Apostle Paul tells us about this in a very powerful text: "God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Eph 2:4-7). The fatherhood of God, who is rich in mercy, is experienced by creatures through the love of God's crucified and risen Son, who sits in heaven on the right hand of the Father as Lord.

My dear brothers and sisters, during these Sundays of the Easter Season, the Church takes us back to the Last Supper. This is giving us a chance to dig deeper into its meaning.

We can use our imaginations to picture the scene. Jesus and the Twelve are in the Upper Room, gathered for the Passover. Jesus begins to tell them about his coming sufferings. He tells them that he will be leaving them to go back to the Father.

We can picture the Apostles frowning in confusion, and maybe beginning to feel a creeping sadness. They have staked their lives on Jesus! They have given up everything to follow him. And now he says that he must go away from them, and that they cannot follow where he is going?

Jesus knows their hearts. He knows their fears. Twice during the Discourse, he tells them, "Do not let your hearts be troubled." He only repeats it because he knows that their hearts are truly troubled. And then he makes them a promise. He says, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."

He promises never to abandon his chosen followers. The crucifixion will come, the darkness, the suffering, the persecution, the apparent failure, and defeat. But through it all, the Apostles can cling with firm faith to this promise: I will not leave you orphans; I will never abandon you.

Jesus knows that our hearts too are often troubled. He knows that we are filled with fear and confusion, with regret and sorrow during our own Good Fridays. And he makes the same promise to us: I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. I will be with you. His Resurrection is the first and definitive step in his fulfilment of this promise. Jesus Christ is faithful. We can count on it.

A Constant Flow of Miracles

Christ proves his faithfulness over and over again. The miracles he performed during his earthly ministry were all signs of God's faithfulness. The greatest sign of all was Jesus' Resurrection - his definitive victory over sin and suffering, the bedrock of our hope.

These signs have continued throughout the history of his Church. In the Act of the Apostle, we heard about the deacon Philip healing cripples and casting out demons. His miracles brought joy to the whole city, because they showed that the Good News of the gospel, which Philip was preaching, was more than just wishful thinking.

The miracles have never stopped flowing. Sceptics always try to explain them away, and they aren't the main pillar of our faith, but they keep happening. Every year the pope beatifies and canonizes new saints. But beatifications and canonizations cannot happen unless miracles confirm the holiness of the new saints and blessed.

Most of us have probably experienced miracles ourselves. Walter Hooper, a convert to Catholicism and literary advisor and trustee to the estate of the famous Christian author C.S. Lewis, once told of a miracle he experienced when he met Pope John Paul II.

Hooper had recently been diagnosed with cancer, and he was in great pain. On a trip to Rome, he had a chance to greet the pope. When he kissed the pope's ring, he immediately felt his pain disappear. At the same time John Paul II winced and tightened his grip, just for a moment.

It was as if the pope had taken upon himself the pain of the cancer, freeing Hooper from his sickness. Walter looked up at the pope and said, "I'm sorry..." and the pope responded, "Don't worry - it's OK." And the cancer was gone.

Spreading the News

We are the fortunate ones. We have heard and believed Christ's promise. We have experienced his presence, his faithfulness. We know we are not orphans. We have the Eucharist, the Mass, the sacraments, the Bible, the guidance of our popes and bishops. We have our share of crosses in life, yet we never have to carry them alone.

But what about the other five billion people on earth who do not know Jesus Christ personally, who are searching for someone they can trust, someone who can give them the promise of eternal life?

Or what about our very own neighbours, co-workers, teammates, family members, and classmates? How many of them are keeping up appearances on the outside, but suffering loneliness, frustration, and maybe even hopelessness on the inside?

Jesus made his promise to them as well. But they need someone to tell them about it. They need someone to bear witness to the faithfulness of that promise.

That someone is us. We are Christ's messengers and witnesses. Just as we received the news from someone else, we are each called to pass it on to someone else. As St Peter put it in today's Second Reading: "Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope." Whether they ask with words or without words, we have the answer: Christ.

Today, as Christ fulfils his promise once again in this Mass and pours his own strength into our souls at Holy Communion, let's ask him to make us more courageous messengers, and let's promise him that this week we will bring the Good News of his unfailing love to someone who really needs to hear it. 

In creating and redeeming us God has destined us to eternal communion with himself, to what St John calls 'eternal life' or what is commonly called "heaven." Jesus communicated the Father's promise to his followers in these words: well done, good and faithful servant. Because you have been good and faithful over small things enter into the joy of your Lord ( Mt 25:21). Eternal life should not be seen as a "continuous succession of days of the calendar, but rather as a moment full of satisfaction, in which totality embraces us and we embrace totality. It will be the moment to submerge ourselves in oceans of limitless love, in which time—the before and after—no longer exists. We can only try to think that this moment is life in its fullest sense, submerging ourselves ever anew in immeasurable being at the same time as we are simply overwhelmed with joy." [5]

Eternal life is what gives meaning to human life, to observing ethical norms, to generous self-giving and unselfish service, and to the effort to communicate Christ's teaching and love to all men and women. A Christian's hope in reaching heaven is not individualist, but encompasses every other person. [6] Thus a Christian can be totally convinced that it is "worthwhile" to live a fully Christian life. "Heaven is the ultimate end and the fulfilment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme and definitive blessedness" (CCC , 1024). As St Augustine said in his Confessions : "You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." [7] Eternal life is the main goal of Christian hope.

"Those who die in God's grace and friendship and are perfectly purified, live for ever with Christ. They are like God for ever, for they 'see him as he is' (1 Jn 3:2), that is face to face ( 1 Cor 13:12)" ( CCC , 1023). Theology has called this state the "beatific vision". "Because of his transcendence, God cannot be seen as he is, unless he himself opens up the mystery to man's immediate contemplation and gives him the capacity for it" (CCC, 1028). Heaven is the maximum expression of divine grace.

On the other hand, heaven does not consist in a purely abstract, immobile contemplation of the Blessed Trinity. In God souls can contemplate all realities that in one way or another refer to their life, rejoicing in them, and in particular loving those they have loved on earth with a pure and everlasting love. "Never forget: after death you will receive Love. And in God's love you will find in addition all the clean loves that you have had on earth." [8] The joy of heaven comes to its full culmination with the resurrection of the dead. According to St Augustine eternal life consists in eternal rest, and in a pleasant and supreme activity. [9]

That heaven lasts forever does not mean that we cease to be free there. In heaven we are unable to sin, because in seeing God face to face, seeing him also as the living source of all created good, it is no longer possible to "want" to sin. Freely and filially, the saved person will be in communion with God for ever. Our freedom has reached its fulfilment.

Eternal life is the definitive fruit of God's self-giving to man, and therefore it has something of infinity about it. Nevertheless, divine grace does not eliminate human nature, neither in our being or our faculties, or in our personality or in what we have merited in life. Hence among those who rejoice in the vision of God there is distinction and diversity, not in the object, which is God himself contemplated without intermediaries, but rather in the quality of the subject: "the one who has more charity partakes more in the light of glory, sees God more perfectly and will be happy." [10]

My first encounter with God was in 1976, when I was in primary school at Rosaryhill School. Without much understanding about God, I secretly followed other classmates to the chapel before exams and dipped my little finger in the holy water, believing that God would bless me with good grades. My academic performance was satisfactory, and I was fortunate to enter Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, after graduation, where I was nurtured by the Jesuits and promptly responded to the call of God by joining the catechism class in 1986. I received the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and began my faith journey, participating in the school's prayer group and altar server group, as well as the choir at Holy Cross Church. In 1991, I entered the University of Hong Kong and served as the external affairs vice-Chairman of the Catholic Society. I also resided in Ricci Hall for three years, where I continued to be nurtured by the Jesuits. In 1994, after graduation, I completed the Diploma in Religious Studies program and began teaching Sunday school at the Mother of Christ Church while also serving as the choir director. I met my wife, Michele Liu, at the Catholic Society and were married in the Sacrament of Matrimony in 1996.

God blessed our family with two gifts in 1998 and 2001: our eldest daughter Portia and our second daughter Jessica. Until 2006, my wife and I spent most of our time on the small but heavy tasks in raising our two daughters and at work. Our family's faith life gradually declined and became dull. I only fulfilled my basic responsibilities as a Sunday church-goer at St. Margaret's Church without participating in any charitable or faith-based organizations. My faith life was not nourished, and I often felt lost in my life. I lost my sense of direction and purpose. It was in these dry days of faith that God called me once again. A poster on the bulletin board at St. Margaret's Church drew my attention, and I responded to the Holy Spirit's call: "Do you want to be a permanent deacon?" After my 35th birthday, I made up my mind to submit an application for permanent deacon. In 2007, I was enrolled as an aspirant at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. After being accepted as a Candidate as a permanent deacon in 2008, I began to study for a Bachelor of Religious Studies at the Holy Spirit Seminary.At the same time, we were blessed with our third daughter, Gloria. In 2010, I was deployed to St. Jude's Church, mainly to receive training in pastoral work and ministry. In the same year, I received the Ministry of Lector in the Holy Cross Church. In 2011, I was appointed to the Marriage and Family Pastoral Committee. We were blessed again by God's love with our fourth daughter, Vania. In the same year, I received the Ministry of Acolyte at St. Jude's Church. In 2012, I completed the four years basic theological training at the Holy Spirit Seminary, graduating from the Department of Religious Studies with the honor of "Magna cum Laude Probatus". On 16 November 2013, I was ordained to the diaconate by Cardinal John Tong Hon, Bishop Emeritus.

As a permanent deacon, I am called to be a person of communion and service. During the six-year period of my formation, I was given opportunities to cultivate my ability to establish good relationships with others. This also comes along with a considerable degree of emotional maturity, allowing love to be the center of my life. This is especially essential for my wife and me to learn to accept and love at all times, to educate our four daughters and to demonstrate the communion of our family to the church and society. One of the most distinctive elements of deacon spiritual formation is to discover and share the love of Christ's servants, "not to be served, but to serve." Gratitude is the source of this spiritual formation, and the sacrament of gratitude expresses the characteristic of the deacon's ministry. Deacons embody the grace of service, participate in church duties such as administering sacraments and serving at the altar, preaching the Gospel and teaching doctrine, and actively participating in and accepting the training and internship that help fulfill these duties, as well as cultivating a strong sense of evangelism. 

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in this Sunday's reading, we get a glimpse of life in the first Christian community, or we can call them the life of the first "parish" - in Jerusalem, soon after the Resurrection of Christ.

Three characteristics stand out, which can help us reflect on our own Christian identity even today.

First, the community of believers is steadily growing. The Church is a living body of believers in Christ, and living things are meant to grow. If a community of Christians isn't growing, something is wrong; ours is a missionary religion. Christ sent his Apostles to preach his Word to all people; the Church is meant to spread into every corner of time and space.

Second, there is a clear structure of authority in the Church community. The Twelve Apostles are its leaders, as Jesus intended, and they solve the new problem that arises by ordaining the first Deacons.

Today as well, every Catholic community is organized with the same hierarchical structure. First there is the pope, the successor St Peter, leader of the Twelve Apostles. Then there is the local bishop, successor of those Apostles. Then there is the pastor of the parish, the bishop's representative for a specific area. None of them govern by their own authority. Rather, they receive their authority from Christ, through the sacrament of orders. By obeying them, in matters of faith and morals, Christians are obeying Christ himself.

Finally, even at the very beginning of the Church, we see that there are disagreements among believers. The Greek-speaking believers complain about being treated as second-class Christians. This is the point I would like to focus on today.

Our faith in Christ doesn't make us perfect right away, just as it didn't make the first Christians perfect right away. Spiritual growth is a life-long process. The first Christians had to work through conflicts and selfish tendencies; so, do we all.

Saints Who Failed and Struggled*

We often hear about the success-stories of the saints, but we don't often hear about their failures. But they did have their failures and hardships, as we all do, and yet, they are still saints.

The great English bishop St.Thomas Becket struggled for his entire life against the sin of pride and arrogance. Knowing his weakness in this area, he ordered several of his clergy to accuse him regularly of any faults they saw in his conduct. And they did, up until the day he died his martyr's death.

St Bogumilus was a conscientious bishop in twelfth-century Poland. But he wasn't very effective in reforming his corrupt clergy. In fact, he was so ineffective that he sought and obtained permission to resign.

The other example of the saint who failed and struggle is St Francis Borgia. St Francis had great worldly prestige as a duke and a member of the royal court in sixteenth-century Spain, but he set it all aside to become a Jesuit priest. He soon became known for his holiness and for his ability to help sinners come to repentance - but even he had his failures.

On one occasion, Francis heard of a young man, notorious for a sinful life, who was stricken with a fatal illness. The saint began by praying for the youth's conversion, and then hurried to his side. But the young man wanted nothing to do with religion. Francis prayed again, and then returned to the dying young man. He held up his crucifix and urged him to repent and to call upon God's mercy, but to no avail. The youth turned his face away and died in despair.

Earth is not heaven, and spiritual growth is a life-long process that includes troubles and failures as well as victories and successes.

*[These illustrations are adapted from Fr Joseph Esper's Saintly Solutions, Sophia Institute Press, www.sophiainstitute.com.]

The Value of Patience

Becoming a mature Christian is a life-long process, both for us as individuals, and for us as a Christian community. If we persevere in this process, never giving up and never falling into a dull routine, we will gradually but steadily grow in wisdom, courage, joy, and holiness. And that is what our hearts thirst for.

One key ingredient that will help us persevere is the virtue of patience. Patience is not a popular virtue in today's culture. Today's culture wants everything right away. Even we Christians are trained in this cultural impatience.

We want life to be like a movie, in which world champions are made in only two hours. We want life to be like UPS, which delivers whatever we want overnight. We want life to be like high-speed Internet, instant availability of everything from friends to financial updates.

But the spiritual life isn't like that. Becoming a mature Christian, and becoming a mature Christian community, takes constant effort over time. That's patience. God's grace is like sunlight and rain, and our souls are like gardens. Patience is the gardener who goes out every day, rain or shine, to pull out the weeds, fertilize the soil, mend the fences, and prune the plants.

How foolish that gardener would be to give up on his garden before the harvest season! To expect full-grown cherries just a week after the cherry tree blossoms! And how foolish we are when we give up on ourselves or on other people, saying that we can't change, long before the autumn of life!

Jesus never gives up on us, as he will prove once again by giving himself to us in this Mass. When he does, let's ask him to teach our hearts the precious virtue of patience, patience with ourselves, and patience with others. 

At the end of the Apostles Creed the Church proclaims 'I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.' This formula contains in brief the fundamental elements of the Church's hope about the last things. Faith in the resurrection of our bodies is inseparable from our faith in the Resurrection of Christ's body from the dead. He rose as our head, as the pattern of our rising, and as the life-giving source of our new life. "If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you" (Rom 8:11).

At death the soul is separated from the body; with the resurrection, body and soul are reunited again for ever ( Catechism of the Catholic Church , 997). The dogma of the resurrection of the dead refers to the fullness of immortality to which mankind is destined, but at the same time it is a vivid reminder of our dignity, and in particular of the dignity of the body. It speaks to us of the goodness of the world, of the body, of the value of a life lived out day by day, of the eternal vocation of matter.

St Thomas Aquinas considered the doctrine of the resurrection to be natural in respect to its final cause (because the soul is made to be united to the body and vice versa), but supernatural in respect to its efficient cause (that is, God). [1]The risen body will be real and material, but not earthly or mortal. St Paul rejected the idea of resurrection as a transformation happening within human history, and spoke of the resurrected body as "glorious" (cf. Phil 3:21) and "spiritual" (cf. Col 15:44 ). The resurrection of every man and woman, as happened with Christ, will take place after death.

The Church in the name of Christian faith does not promise us a successful life on this earth. She does not talk of a "utopia," since our earthly life will always be marked by the Cross. However, through the reception of Baptism and the Eucharist, the process of resurrection has is some way already begun (cf. CCC , 1000). According to St Thomas, at the resurrection the soul will inform the body so deeply that it will reflect the soul's moral and spiritual qualities. [2] Thus the final resurrection, which will take place when Christ comes in glory, will make possible the definitive judgement of the living and the dead.

With respect to the doctrine of the resurrection four points can be made:

—The doctrine of the final resurrection excludes theories of reincarnation, according to which the human soul after death migrates to another body, repeatedly if necessary, until it is finally purified. In this regard, Vatican Council II referred to "the one life we live," [3] for it is established that men die only once ( Heb 9:27).

—The veneration of relics of the saints is a clear manifestation of the Church's faith in the resurrection of the body.

—Although cremation of the human body is not illicit, unless it has been chosen for reasons that go against faith (cf. CCC, 1176), the Church strongly advises maintaining the pious custom of burying the dead. "The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity, in the faith and hope of the resurrection. The burial of the dead is a corporal work of mercy: it honours the children of God, who are temples of the Holy Spirit." ( CCC 2300).

— The resurrection of the dead accords with what Holy Scripture calls the coming of "the new heavens and the new earth" (cf. CCC, 1042; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1) Not only will mankind attain glory, but the entire cosmos in which we live and move will be transformed. "The Church to which all have been called in Christ Jesus and in which, by the grace of God, we achieve sanctity," we read in Lumen Gentium (no. 48), "will not achieve its full perfection until 'the time comes for the restoration of all things' ( Acts 3:21), and when along with human kind the whole universe, so intimately united with man and through him achieving its end, will be perfectly renewed." There will certainly be continuity between this world and the new world, but also an important discontinuity. The hope of the definitive installation of Christ's kingdom shouldn't weaken but rather strengthen, with the theological virtue of hope, our effort to achieve progress on earth ( CCC 1049).

Footnotes:

[1] Cf. St Thomas, Summa Contra Gentiles , IV,81

[2] Cf. St Thomas, Summa Theologiae , III. Suppl., qq 78-86