After a moment of Eucharistic adoration at St. Rose of Lima school, a little girl, perhaps 6 or 7 years old, approached me and said, “Father Ed, Yyou say that Jesus speaks to us, but I can’t hear Him.” Children at this age often go straight to the heart of the matter, asking questions that can be challenging for us to answer. I simply told her, “Jesus speaks inside your heart.” Fortunately, the little girl didn’t ask a follow-up question, but I’m not sure she was satisfied with my answer.
The Catholic Diocese of Macau welcomed the Year of the Snake this Wednesday, January 29th, with the observance of the feast of Our Lady of China. The commemoration of the Virgin of Dong Lu on the first day of the Lunar New Year is a liturgical tradition exclusive to the local Catholic Church. Elsewhere in the world, the solemnity of Our Lady of China falls every year on the day before the second Sunday of May. But how important is Marian devotion to Chinese Catholics? How did Our Lady of China become an integral part of the Lunar New Year celebrations in Macau? Andrew Leong, head of the Department of Catholic Theology at the Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy of the University of Saint Joseph, explains.
Starting from February, a new liturgical choir will animate and support English and Tagalog language Masses at the Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Lady. The Padre Pio Choir was formally introduced on Sunday, February 2nd. On the very same day, the Couples for Christ Choir, Macau’s oldest English language ensemble, commemorates its 18th anniversary.
For the untouchable caste of southern India, known as Dalits, this Jubilee Year represents renewed hope in the recognition of their human dignity and another attempt to break the spiral of discrimination and exclusion to which they are usually subjected. Perhaps during this Jubilee period, they could try to counter the caste mentality embedded in Indian culture and seize the opportunities that may arise within society and the Church, on an equal footing with other citizens. At least, this is the opinion of Franciscan priest Fr. Nithya Sagayam OFM Cap, secretary of the Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCST) of the Catholic Bishops’ Council of Tamil Nadu.
Mary and Joseph were faithful Jews who obeyed the Law of Moses. Jewish Law prescribed that two ritual acts needed to take place for a firstborn son. First, the mother of a newborn son was ritually unclean for seven days, and then she was to “spend thirty-three more days in a state of blood purity” (Leviticus 12:2–8). During these forty days she was not to “touch anything sacred nor enter the sanctuary till the days of her purification are fulfilled.” For this reason, today’s feast has at times been called the “Purification of Mary.” Second, the father of the firstborn son was to “redeem” the child by making an offering to the priest of five shekels so that the priest would then present the child to the Lord (see Numbers 18:16). Recall that the firstborn male of all the Egyptians, animals and children, was killed during the tenth plague, but the firstborn males of the Israelites were spared. Thus, this offering made for the firstborn son in the Temple was a way of ritually redeeming him in commemoration of protection during that plague. Since Jesus was presented in the Temple for this redemption, today’s feast is now referred to as the “Presentation in the Temple.”
“There is someone who loves you even before you deserve it”. This phrase has always served as a motto for Giovanni Merlini, a priest of the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood born in 1795 and beatified, after a process that lasted more than a century, less than two weeks ago in the Basilica of St. John Lateran.
Around three dozen young pilgrims from Macau will travel to Rome in summer, to take part in the Jubilee of Youth. The event is the crowning moment of a pilgrimage that also includes visits to Lourdes and Assisi.
The Chinese Section of Santa Rosa de Lima Secondary School will once again play host to the Prayer Service for Christian Unity, an annual ecumenical celebration that draws together worshippers from different Christian denomination. The observance is part of the broader Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
It’s one of the most vibrant and expressive public displays of faith in Asia’s largest Catholic nation, but also an exuberant trademark for Filipino communities spread around the world. Macau Special Administrative Region is no exception. On Sunday morning, believers will flock to Saint Augustine’s Church to attend a Mass in honor of Señor Santo Niño. Later on, hundreds of Overseas Filipino Workers will swarm the streets of central Macau to celebrate Sinulog, a lively festival that intertwines faith, culture and tradition.
The Church traditionally uses three celebrations after Christmas to emphasize the manifestation of Jesus’ divinity. First, on the Feast of the Epiphany, the Child Jesus is recognized as God by the three wise men. Then, as we saw last Sunday, at His baptism performed by John the Baptist, a voice from heaven reveals that Jesus is the beloved Son of the Father and a dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit, descends upon Him. This trilogy concludes in today’s celebration with the Gospel of the wedding at Cana, where Jesus during a wedding and after His mother’s request, turns water into wine and begins His messianic signs that would be completed with the sign of greater love through His sacrifice on the cross.