HONG KONG (SE): Mission Sunday is an occasion to invite the faithful to participate in the evangelising mission of the Church. The ways to carry out the mission and to live out the values outlined in the Beatitudes were the focus of two formation activities in May and June organised by the Ad Hoc Committee for the Diocesan Mission Sunday Celebration.
In a talk at St. Paul’s parish, Yau Ma Tei, on May 29, participants were invited to look into ways to evangelise, especially during the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic and with the social changes taking place in Hong Kong.
To help share the gospel in different parishes given the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, there was a session on how to use livestreaming equipment teaching how to ensure an event reached more people on different media platforms.
Father Fructuoso López Martin and youth pastoral officer, Francis Law Wai-chung, then led a discussion about how to carry out our mission by considering the experiences in communities and parishes, and taking into account specific situations in society.
In the sharing session, participants talked about their joys as well as trials during previous evangelisation programmes in parishes and gave concrete suggestions for improvement. Some shared about their happiness in Christmas carolling and expressed their hope for more chances to approach people outside the parish. Some suggested more prayer services with music to allow people feel the Lord’s peace and to help their spiritual growth, while others pointed out that exercise classes can be a good way to build up a relationship with the neighbourhood.
Father Matthias Choi Chun-yuen gave a talk on the Sermon on the Mount at St. Francis of Assisi parish, Shek Kip Mei, on June 6. He encouraged participants to consider how the Beatitudes apply in our daily lives—which may present certain challenges. The Franciscan priest said that spiritual poverty in the Beatitudes is a reminder for us to wholeheartedly follow the will of God on earth. He also reminded participants to uphold the principles of justice as Jesus said blessings will be given to people persecuted for righteousness’ sake.
The committee invites people to share how they live out their faith and the values based on the Beatitudes by posting videos or pictures from June 6 to August 31 on the Facebook page of Mission Sunday 2021 at https://www.facebook.com/MissionSundayHK.
