HONG KONG (SE): “As you have become a Christian, you have already decided and responded to God’s calling. But at this moment what else has the Lord invited you to do? What voice have he given to you, and how do you respond to it through your life?” Father Paul Kam Po-wai, vicar general, asked during a Mass held on April 29 at St. Benedict’s Church, Shatin, marking the silver jubilee of his priesthood. He was ordained there on 2 May 1998.
In response to the gospel reading about Good Shepherd, Father Kam urged people to listen to the voice of God to discern their vocations and shared that he had been invited to attend Mass every day by his spiritual advisor for discernment more than two decades ago.
The Diocesan Vocations Commission organised a series of Masses for Vocation Sunday on April 30, the fourth Sunday of Easter. They began with the Mass on April 29, as well as one on the next day at St. Benedict’s Church.
Other Masses held during the month were celebrated by vicar general, Father Joseph Chan Wing-chiu, at St. Teresa’s Church, Prince Edward Road, on May 7; and by Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing at Annunciation Church, Tsuen Wan, on May 13.
The last Mass for vocations will be celebrated by Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan sj at Holy Cross Parish, Shau Kei Wan, on May 21, before which there will be a formation activity for the participants of the vocation prayer campaign.
Before the Mass on April 29, a sharing session was held at the parish hall in which a documentary, Matteo Ricci: A Western Confucian in the Orient, produced by KPS TV in Taiwan was shown. The movie depicts how the young Ricci, against the wishes of his father who had paved the way for him to be a lawyer, determined to follow the steps of his predecessor, St. Francis Xavier, and became a missionary, and how he later started his missionary work in the East, beginning in Macau together with with fellow Jesuit Father Michele Ruggieri.
Sister Rosalia Kong Sze-wai, executive secretary of the Diocesan Vocation Commission, said Father Ricci set a good example for us in many ways.
“We chose this particular movie to show young people that if you have this dream and respond to the calling of God, you can learn to be brave enough like Father Ricci. We can see that God helped this missionary despite his many difficulties, such as learning Chinese, and the Chinese culture, but he overcame them one by one to complete the mission God had given him,” Sister Kong said.
The film screening event was attended by around 70 people, including secondary school students, seminarians and parishioners.
Father Kam, Jesuit Father Alan Wong and Sister Carmela Pamei pime, were invited to share their reflections on the movie.
Father Kam, the first diocesan priest from Hong Kong assigned to serve as a missionary overseas, shared that he was touched by the strong determination of the early missionaries who travelled to the East as the journey took months and sometimes it would take their lives.
He recalled how his vocation was inspired by his parish priest in Kwun Tong, Father John Hines, and it took him five years to discern his vocation [Sunday Examiner, March 12].
He shared that, with the full support of his family, his difficulties lay in language abilities which had been an obstacle in his studies. With the aim of improving his English, he corresponded with a seminarian in Tanzania by exchanging letters, which paved the way for him as a missionary.
He said missionary work has always been a way to promote cultural exchanges. While serving in Tanzania from 2003 to 2006, he said he had to take a course to learn the culture. On the other hand, he also taught English to young people on Sundays. He was grateful that he had brought many young African people to visit Hong Kong. One of the altar boys has become a priest under his encouragement.
The vicar general was assigned to Cambodia for missionary work in 2018. He shared that he had a hard time learning Cambodian language as he had a teacher who could not speak English. He said he could imagine Father Ricci’s difficulties in his time.
Sister Pamei, who was born in India, recounted that she has been in Hong Kong for 13 years. She has 10 siblings and two of her sisters are also nuns. She came from a devout family which habitually prayed together every day.
She first sensed her vocation when she saw a picture of Mother Teresa holding a baby and thought she wanted to be a religious sister as well. She was then attracted by the missionary spirit of the PIME Sisters so she finally joined the congregation.
St. Ignatius tells us that our innermost longings are actually a sign from God that he has a unique plan for each of us… Discovering God’s will is not easy; it can be difficult, but it can also be exciting. In fact God speaks to us every day in many ways. We just need to look at our experiences and see what has moved or caught our interest
Father Alan Wong
She thanked the lay people in Hong Kong for understanding her limitations in language learning with love.
“Learning a language can be a problem, but I would like to tell young people that if there is love, we can overcome all the difficulties,” she said.
Father Alan Wong said he was touched by the passion of Father Ricci to help the Chinese people to learn about Jesus and Western scientific ideas. He said our deepest passion, in fact, comes from the will of God.
“St. Ignatius tells us that our innermost longings are actually a sign from God that he has a unique plan for each of us… Discovering God’s will is not easy; it can be difficult, but it can also be exciting. In fact God speaks to us every day in many ways. We just need to look at our experiences and see what has moved or caught our interest,” he said.
Participants were later invited to share their life’s dreams.
Eric Wong Ho-ming, a parishioner of St. Patrick’s said he is also pursuing his vocation and regularly joined gatherings with Jesuit priests. He was thankful for their insights in theology and philosophy.
He shared that he was especially touched by the inculturation efforts of Father Ricci, such as wearing Chinese attire to show his respect for Chinese culture. He said he could see Bishop Chow’s recent visit to Beijing served a similar purpose, which was to promote communication.
