October 18 World Mission Sunday

This Week’s Readings:

First Reading: Isaiah 53: 10-11. By his sufferings, the Servant of the Lord will bring men salvation.
Second Reading: Hebrews 4: 14-16. Jesus has experienced all the weaknesses and difficulties of human conditions.
Gospel: Mark 10: 35-45. Anyone who wants to be leader must first of all a servant.

Points for Reflection from Fr Carlo Tei

World Mission Sunday, which we celebrate today, on 29th Sunday of Year B, comes every year to remind us that the Church’s most important duty is the preaching of the Gospel.

We read in today’s Gospel, “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The same truth is proclaimed in the Creed when we say of Jesus: “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven.”

Most people of the world are still waiting for someone to announce to them the news of salvation. After two thousand years since the coming of the Son of God into the world, only about one person in five is Christian. Yet, Jesus Christ is their only Saviour, and he commissioned his disciples to the service of revealing him to the world: “Go and teach all nations.”

Most of the people to whom we are called to reveal Jesus Christ are not atheists, because for some good reason they already believe in God. Yet their knowledge of God is weak and incomplete, sometimes mixed with error and darkened by sin.

God, in his mercy, has given mankind a surer knowledge of himself through the history of the People of Israel, and above all, through his Son Jesus Christ, who came into the world and gave us the New and Eternal Covenant, which unveils God’s plan of salvation. It is the news of the Crucified and Risen Son of God, the only Saviour and Lord of mankind, that his disciples have the mission to spread.

St Paul used to ask prayers for all people, saying that God “wills everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Gospel.” To this plea he added his own wonderful missionary work, which remains an inspiration and example for us all.

All of us, whether priests, religious or lay people, are called to do all we can to spread the Gospel: to tell everyone that there is no salvation but in “The Son of Man who did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

“Thanksgiving Day” and “Zhongqiu Jie”

Today, October 12, the country of Canada celebrates Thanksgiving Day. In different countries, people celebrate Thanksgiving Day in different ways, and on different days, but the purpose is almost the same, all for giving thanks to God. Also, each nation, has its own Thanksgiving Day.

For people in the United States, they celebrate it on the fourth Thursday in November. On that day, the whole nation immersed in a festive atmosphere. People go to church to thank God, and you can see people with Costume Parade celebrating everywhere, drama or sports competitions. People will come back from different parts of country, the family gathered together around the table, tasting delicious Thanksgiving turkey.

Canadian people celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the second Monday of October, 5 and half weeks earlier than the United States. Canadians thank God for the success of the main harvest. In Canada, Thanksgiving dinner is a traditional dinner, people eat thanksgiving turkey and pumpkin pie, also you can see a symbol full of flowers and fruits rich cornucopia on the centre of table. Families and friends come togther to share the joy of harvest, to thank God.

For the Chinese people, we celebrate it on the 15th day of the 8th moon (according to the Chinese Lunar calendar), we call Zhongqiu jie. This joyous Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated around the time of the autumn equinox. Many refer to it simply as the "Fifteenth of the Eighth Moon". For this year, we celebrated it just a few days ago. Although the Chinese people not to use directly this term "Thanksgiving"; even though the ruling is an atheist country now, however, in terms of people's fundamental beliefs, but also is one of the nation who worships of God and His Name. People give the festival day more mythologizes, such as "Chang Er flies to the Moon" , a symbol of people's quest for beauty; on the other side, also people celebrate the "Zhongqiu Jie" for the blessing of God.

This day is also considered as a harvest festival since fruits, vegetables and grain has been harvested by this time and food was abundant. Food offerings are placed on an altar set up in the courtyard. Apples, pears, peaches, grapes, pomegranates, melons, oranges and pomelos might be seen. Special foods for the festival including moon cakes, cooked taro and water caltrop, a type of water chestnut resembling black buffalo horns. Some people insist that cooked taro be included because at the time of creation, taro was the first food discovered at night in the moonlight. These, can not be omitted from the Mid-Autumn Festival.

As well, the traditional festivity of Zhongqiu Jie has its long story. It became very prevalent in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) that people enjoyed and worshiped the full moon. In the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 A.D.), however, people sent round moon cakes to their relatives as gifts in expression of their best wishes, of family reunion, and they thank God for his blessing in the past, aboveall, people celebrated the harvest of the year. In China, previously, people celebrated it just like a folk festival, but since last year, Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhongqiu Jie) was defined as national public holiday to celebrate for the entire country.

Anyway, whether it is Thanksgiving Day or the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, although each of them includes the different culture, they have something in common. People celebrate the harvest and thank God. For us Christians, each day is a gift from God, because of this, we celebrate the “Holy Eucharist” everyday.

28th Sunday's Meditation

First Reading: Wisdom 7: 7-11. True wisdom is to be prized above everything.
Second Reading: Hebrews 4: 12-13. Everything in us is known to the Lord.
Gospel: Mark 10: 17-30. Our following of Jesus calls for a total self-giving.

Points for Reflection from Fr. Carlo Tei

1. True wisdom, of which today’s First Reading speaks, is to follow Jesus Christ. But to follow Jesus Christ requires a radical re-thinking of our lives. It is not enough to observe the Commandments. We have to choose Jesus Christ as our only model, and live his type of life, by being completely concerned and caring about our brothers and sisters in need.

 

2. On our way toward this goal we may find many obstacles and temptations. One of these is wealth. “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” warns Jesus in today’s Gospel. Material goods are God’s gift to mankind. But, precisely because of this, they become evil things in the hands of those who use them only to build up their own material treasure, and not to help their brothers and sisters in need as well.

 

3. Jesus makes it clear that, in order to be able to enter the Kingdom (which is the same as to “inherit eternal life”) rich people must imitate his life of love for others and share their riches with the needy and the poor. This is what the Bible calls “heavenly wisdom”. Rich people, however, acquire heavenly wisdom and evangelical poverty not by simply possessing nothing material, but by actively involving themselves with the poor, especially with those among them who have no means of organizing, defending or liberating themselves.

4. No matter whether we are rich or poor, we are called to imitate Jesus in his self-giving love for us. We are called to use God’s gifts to us, not only for ourselves, but also to help the needy, and thus contribute to the creation of a better world: that is, a world based on brotherly love, self-giving and justice; a world where material goods are seen as God the Father’s gift to mankind, a gift to be equally shared by all his children.

October 7 Our Lady of the Rosary

In ancient times, Marian feasts of the Eastern Church centred on events in Mary's life. Since the 12th century, Marian feasts added to the Western calendar almost always commemorate a particular event of the times. This feast was celebrated in teh late 15th century by some confraternities of the Rosary, and in 1571 was solemnized by Pius V in thankgiving for a battle victory. In 1716, Clement XI extended the feast to the universal Church.
Our Lady of Rosary, pray for us!

Why go to Church?

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"

When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, or in Chinese, Zhongqiu Jie (traditional Chinese: 中秋節), is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people, Japanese people (Tsukimi festival in Japanese), Koreans (Chuseok festival in Korean), and Vietnamese people (even though they celebrate it differently), dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty. It was first called Zhongqiu Jie (literally "Mid-Autumn Festival") in the Zhou Dynasty. In Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival.

The joyous Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon, around the time of the autumn equinox（秋分）. Many referred to it simply as the "Fifteenth of the Eighth Moon".

This day was also considered as a harvest festival since fruits, vegetables and grain had been harvested by this time and food was abundant. Food offerings were placed on an altar set up in the courtyard. Apples, pears, peaches, grapes, pomegranates（石榴）, melons, oranges and pomelos（柚子） might be seen. Special foods for the festival included moon cakes, cooked taro（芋头）and water caltrope（菱角）, a type of water chestnut resembling black buffalo horns. Some people insisted that cooked taro be included because at the time of creation, taro was the first food discovered at night in the moonlight. Of all these foods, it could not be omitted from the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The round moon cakes, measuring about three inches in diameter and one and a half inches in thickness, resembled Western fruitcakes in taste and consistency. These cakes were made with melon seeds（西瓜子）, lotus seeds（莲籽）, almonds（杏仁）, minced meats, bean paste, orange peels and lard（猪油）. A golden yolk（蛋黄） from a salted duck egg was placed at the center of each cake, and the golden brown crust was decorated with symbols of the festival. Traditionally, thirteen moon cakes were piled in a pyramid to symbolize the thirteen moons of a "complete year," that is, twelve moons plus one intercalary（闰月的） moon.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festivity for both the Han and minority nationalities. The custom of worshipping the moon can be traced back as far as the ancient Xia and Shang Dynasties (2000 B.C.-1066 B.C.). In the Zhou Dynasty(1066 B.C.-221 B.C.), people hold ceremonies to greet winter and worship the moon whenever the Mid-Autumn Festival sets in. It becomes very prevalent in the Tang Dynasty(618-907 A.D.) that people enjoy and worship the full moon. In the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 A.D.), however, people send round moon cakes to their relatives as gifts in expression of their best wishes of family reunion. When it becomes dark, they look up at the full silver moon or go sightseeing on lakes to celebrate the festival. Since the Ming (1368-1644 A.D. ) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911A.D.), the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival celebration becomes unprecedented popular. Together with the celebration there appear some special customs in different parts of the country, such as burning incense（熏香）, planting Mid-Autumn trees, lighting lanterns on towers and fire dragon dances. However, the custom of playing under the moon is not so popular as it used to be nowadays, but it is not less popular to enjoy the bright silver moon. Whenever the festival sets in, people will look up at the full silver moon, drinking wine to celebrate their happy life or thinking of their relatives and friends far from home, and extending all of their best wishes to them.

Moon Cakes

There is this story about the moon-cake. during the Yuan dynasty (A.D. 1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to the foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each moon cake was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attached and overthrew the government. Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend and was called the Moon Cake.

For generations, moon cakes have been made with sweet fillings of nuts, mashed red beans, lotus-seed paste or Chinese dates（枣子）, wrapped in a pastry. Sometimes a cooked egg yolk can be found in the middle of the rich tasting dessert. People compare moon cakes to the plum pudding and fruit cakes which are served in the English holiday seasons.

Nowadays, there are hundreds varieties of moon cakes on sale a month before the arrival of Moon Festival.

---Form internet

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

October 2, Guardian Angels

The word "angel" comes form the Greek word for messenger, and the Scriptures contain many references to their activities. In the Acts of the Apostles we read how Peter was assisted by an angel in his escape form prison. Then when he went to a gathering of the believers and answered, "It is his angel" (Acts 12.15). It was widely believed that people had an angelic being, a guardian angel, assigned by God. In the oldest Roman Sacramentary still in existence, indirect refrence is made to these individual guardians in the prayers for the fest. A memorial to guardian angels was entered into the calendar of the first available feast day following Michaelmas (Spetember 29).

Prayer:

Angel of God, my Guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

October 1 Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus (LISIEUX)

Marie-Françoise Thérèse Martin was born in Normandy, France, in 1873, ninth and youngest child of Louis Martin, watchmaker, and Azélie-Marie Guérin, lacemaker. Her mather died when she was only five years old and the family moved to Lisieux where she was raised by her father, her sisters and an aunt. Three of her sisters became Carmelite nuns and the fourth joined the Visitandines.

At 15 Thérèse entered the Carmel of Lisieux. Her motto was phrase from the great Carmelite mystic John of the Cross, "love is repaid by love alone." Thérèse held special devotions to the heart of Jesus and to the spiritual Motherhood of Mary. Because of tuberculosis, Thérèse's activites were limited. She pioneered the ideal of the "little way": fidelity in the small things, trust and complete self'surrender to God.

Thérèse  had a gift for writing and the prioress, her sister Pauline, directed her to write first about her life in the convent. These were combined into The Story of a Soul, a modern spiritual autobiography.

The "Little Flower" died on September 30, 1897. Though Thérèse life spanned only 24 years, her faith and simplicity were remarkable. She was cannonized in 1925, and made Doctor of the Church in 1997. She is another patroness of missions in the Church, besides Saint Francis Xavier.

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, pray for us!

Memories of the Pope's words

Benedict XVI: Christ saves us from the ills of the spirit
From: Vatican  September 27, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass on Sunday morning at Brno in Moravia, the second city of the Czech Republic. The central theme of the Mass was Christian hope. In his homily, the Holy Father emphasized the need to build on Christ, our life. The Pope said that although technical developments and the improvement of social structures are certainly important and necessary but not sufficient to guarantee the moral well-being of society. Before the Angelus, the Pope recalled that Moravia is a land rich in Marian shrines, and was the place from which John Paul II began his travels in Central and Eastern Europe after the end of Communism. The Pope then urged the faithful in the land of Saints Cyril and Meth ... ...

教宗一点也不否认科技进步和社会结构改善的需要与好处，但他指出单凭这些并不足以保证国民在社会生活中能够享受伦理道德的益处。他强调：“人需要从物质压迫中获得自由，更深一点说，人必须从折磨他心灵的邪恶中得到救援。可是除了天主外，谁能救他呢？天主是爱，祂在耶稣基督身上彰显了自己全能和慈悲的面貌。所以，我们所怀的坚固希望乃是耶酥基督，在他身上天主爱我们到了极点，而且赐给我们丰富的生命。这个生命是每个人都渴望拥有的，即使有时候他不觉得”。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wTpmAR8d44

September 29, Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

Micheal, Gabriel and Raphael are three of the seven archangels who stand before God and are venerated in both Jewish and Christian traditions. While this date was once dedicated solely to Michael (Michaelmas), it now commemorates all three.

Michael (who is like the Lord?), considered the special protector of Israel (Dan 12:1) and of the Church, is known as the "captain of the heavenly host"(Rev 12: 7-9).

Gabriel (God is mighty) foretold the coming of the Messiah to the prophet Daniel (Dan 9). Luke records the appearences of this "angel of the Lord" to Zechariach and to Mary of Zazareth (Luke 1).

Raphael (God heals) identifies himself as one of the angels who bring prayers before God (Tobit 12). He is associated with the healing pool in Jerusalem (John 5).