Page 1

May 2016Volume 18

St. Margaret Mary’s Church

The Spirit of TruthTHE MAY FLOWER : A MONTH TO REMEMBER .

Sr. Catherine Wong. spc

Say, all the leaves be tarnishedSay, all the earth be sodden or crackedShe – She – The QUEEN of heaven and earthWill stand And her long spike-borne bodice will straighten. It is May – a month to remember her – MARY - O beautiful Rose -The Rose of heaven and earth.Should creatures crawl on, let man walk on Take up our Rosaries to weave a garland Throw out our feuds and warsHold our hands to form a garden For her - our QUEEN . ThenOur pockets will not go emptyWe shall sweep all windfalls Her grace of love and her lanterns of hope.

Page 2

One Faith One Body

Father Tommy Murphy SSC, Spiritual Advisor of The World Community for Christian Meditation (Hong Kong), was invited by the parish’s Formation Group to give a talk on Christian Meditation on 21 April, 2016. Belonging to the Missionary Society of St. Columba, Fr. Tommy lives in Beijing and works as a Spiritual Guide in China.

“We Christians meditate in order to find our true selves which are in the deepest recesses of our heart where God is. St. Augustine prayed to God: ‘I have learnt to love you

late! You were within me, and I was in the world outside myself. I searched for you outside myself… You were with me, but I was not with you.’ (Confessions, Book X: 27)

“The hustle and bustle of daily life keep us very busy. Our mind is always active, full of thoughts and plans; our hearts are filled with fear, anger, anxiety, fantasy and remorse. We are worried about what other people think of us. Many of our actions are to avoid others’ criticism of us. But these emotions and actions are not our true selves; they reflect only fears in our head. This head is referred to as our ‘ego’. The ego is always full of the self: I, me, my. All this stops us from getting in touch with our true selves, and keeps us away from God.

“We are always thinking about the past, feeling nostalgic or regretful about what we have said or done. Or else, we keep thinking about our future, worried about what will happen to us or our plans. But God is HERE and NOW. The challenge for us is to meet God here and now. Meditation attempts to bring us out of the past and future, to live in the present moment.”

Fr. Tommy cited the Biblical bases for Christian meditation: God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ (Ex.3:14) “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalms 46:10) Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray: “Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.” (Matthew, 6:6)

“Our faith is about our relationships with God, about our trust in Him. Meditation is a way for us to see God. By going deeper into our heart, we experience the presence of God there. When you start to meditate, don’t think; just sit upright and relaxed, gently close your eyes, be simple and focused, keep still and silent, faithfully repeat the mantra: Ma...ra...na...tha. (“Come Lord Jesus.” Cor. 16:22) The mantra stops our mind, and helps us break through our false selves. When you are distracted, just note it and go back to the mantra.”

Fr. Tommy led the hundred plus people who attended the talk in a meditation practice. We are advised to practice meditation twice a day, in the morning and evening, 20 minutes each time. Before the session ended, the Hong Kong coordinator, Lina Lee introduced WCCM and the 14 meditation groups in the city.

To Find God through Christian Meditation

Page 3

Our Parish, Our Family

A small group of Japanese-speaking people came together in 1955 to organize Mass and prayers for the Hong Kong Japanese Catholics. There were many Japanese Catholic living in Hong Kong or Passing through. The Japanese Catholics had a deep desire to attend Mass and prayers in their own language, because they would inevitably return to Japan, so it was the Japanese language that moved the first group of Japanese members in Catholic Churches in Hong Kong to create Society. Since then, 61 years have passed by with many changes taking place in leadership, especially pertaining to the missionary Fathers and Sisters. Regardless of difficulties, that came often, God’s graces have led us this far, and continues to lead the Japanese Society.

For years of the first period, there was no designated place for Masses or gatherings. The Catholic Centre in Central was used some times and peoples’ houses were used sometimes. Then Rosary Hill School permitted us to use their chapel during the period of time from 1980 to 1989. Then St. Margaret’s Catholic Church in Happy Valley allowed us the use of small chapel from December, 1989. Our Society always express deeply our gratitude to St Margaret’s Church for their valuable support and generous hospitality. St Margaret’s Church has not only given a chapel for our Mass, but the parish also has supported us by allowing the Society the use of all their facilities and Hong Kong Diocesan assistance with registration procedures for Baptisms, Confirmations and Weddings. All of this has been a great support and honor for all the members of the Hong Kong Japanese Catholic Society.

From Akio Nishida, Chairman of Hong Kong Japanese Catholic Society April 23, ‘16

Bishop Kikuchi and Fr Adam Sr Nomoto and Fr Adam

I would like to introduce our Hong Kong Japanese Catholic Society.

Page 4

Wo r d s f r o m G o s p e l r e a d i n g s i n May 2 0 1 6

Article Contributions Welcome

The newsletter is in many ways a ‘family letter’, facilitating the communication and sharing of ideas between different groups in our parish. Therefore you will be most welcome to share with

us your spiritual life and insights, parish activities and pilgrimage experience, etc. Text should be close to a full-A4 page length or half of it, with high resolution photos for print quality where relevant. We also welcome a simpler photo journal format with titles for the photos and may be a few lines to describe an event you have participated; it would be great to see different members of our family. Please send your contributions by email if possible; in case of handwritten manuscripts, please give it to the counter staff at the amenities building next to St. Margaret’s Church. Originals will not be returned so please make copies if necessary.

By post: St. Margaret’s Church (Newsletter)2A Broadwood Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong.

Tel: 25762801 Fax: 25769764 Email: smc@catholic.org.hk

G o s p e l v e r s e sSixth Sunday of Easter John 14:23-29

Jesus answered and said to him, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

Pentecost Sunday John 14:15-16, 23-26Jesus said to him, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you always.”

The Most Holy Trinity John 16:12-15Jesus answered and said to him, “But when He comes, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you to all truth.”

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) Luke 9:11-17

Then taking the five loaves and two fish, and looking up to heaven, He said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.

The Ascension of the Lord (Seventh Sunday of Easter) Luke 24:46-53

And he said to them, “Repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”